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THE 



MINIATURE FKUIT GARDEN 



OE, THE CULTITRE OF 



PYRAMIDAL AND BUSH FRUIT TREES. 



"There is no kind of fruit, however delicious, that may not be deteriorated, 
or however worthless, that may not be ameliorated, by particular modes of 
management." — De. Lindlet. C 



By THOMAS EIYEES. 



FROM THE THIRTEENTH ENGLISH EDITION. 



347/2 



NEW-YORK: 
ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY, 

S4e5 BR0^33^?VA.Y. 



[/f^fy 



18 G^ 



P»t, Office Lib. 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



A woKK by the veteran pomologist, Thomas Riveks, 
needs no commendation. That it has passed through 
thirteen editions in England, shows the high estima- 
tion in which it is held there. We republish it 
without any alteration, and without any attempt to 
Americanize it. No foreign work can be taken by 
the American gardener as an absolute guide, and 
there are many things in this which can have little 
or no application in this country. Yet the work is 
full of practical suggestions, and no one who has a 
fruit-garden can fail to find in it many hints of great 
value. We have no work that treats in such detail 
of the garden culture of dwarf pear trees. In this 
country Ave ].'laut dwarfs, and are dissatisfied at the 
results they give in ordinary orchard culture. Mr. 
Rivers truly says: "It must always be recollected 
that pears on quince stocks are strictly garden trees, 



Vi PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 

and not adapted to orchards," Those who have only 
a limited space, and wish to grow pears, apples, and 
other fruits, can, by the system of pinching and root- 
pruning combined, keep their trees as small as pot 
specimens. The selection of varieties given here is 
that suited to Mr, Rivers's climate and locality, and 
includes some that are not considered valuable with 
US, The American gardener will, of course, consult 
home authorities in making out his list of varieties. 

New York, Aj^ril, 1866, 



IIsTTEODUOTIOI^. 



Mt attention was drawn to the benefits fruit trees derive from 
root-pruning and frequent removal about the year 1810. I 
was then a youth, witli a most active fruit appetite, and, if a 
tree bearing superior fruit could be discovered in my lather's 
orchard-like nursery, I was very constant in ray visits to it. 

In those days there was in the old nursery, first cropped with 
trees by my grandfather, about tlie middle of the last century, 
a "quarter," — i. <?., a piece of ground devoted to the reception 
of refuse trees — of such trees as were too small or weak for 
customers, so that in taking up trees for orders during the win- 
ter they were left, and in spring all taken up and transplanted 
to the "hospital quarter," as the laborers called it. The 
trees in this quarter were often removed — they were, in nur- 
sery parlance, "driven together" when they stood too thinly 
in the ground; or, in other words, taken up, often annually, 
and planted nearer together on the same piece of ground. This 
old nursery contained about eight acres, the soil a deep reddish 
loam, inclining to clay, in which fruit trees flourislied and grew 
vigorously. I soon found that it was but of little use to look 
among the young free-growing trees for fruit, but among the 
refuse trees, and to the " hospital quarter " I was indebted for 
many a fruit-feast — s^ieh Ribston Pippins 1 such Golden Pippins ! 



viii INTRODUCTION". 

When I came to a thinking age, 1 became anxious to know 
%yhy those refuse trees never made strong, vigorous shoots 
like those growing in their immediate neigliborhood, and j'et 
nearly always bore good crops of fruit. Many years elapsed 
before I saw "the reason why," and long afterwards I was 
advised by a friend, a F. H. S., to write a crude, short paper on 
the subject, and send it to be read at a meeting of the Horti- 
cultural Society: this paper is published in their "Transac- 
tions." I had then practised it several years; so that I may 
now claim a little more attention, if the old adage that " prac- 
tice makes perfect" be worthy of notice. 

This little work is not designed for the gardens and gardeners 
of the wealthy and great, but fir tliose who take a personal 
interest in fruit tree culture, and who look on their gardens as 
a never-failing source of aTuusement. In some few favored 
districts, fruit trees, without any e.xtra care in planting and 
after-management, will bear good crops, and remain healthy 
for many years. It is not so in gardens witli unfavorable soils ; 
and they are greatly in the majority. It is to those possessing 
such, and more particularly to the possessors of small gardens, 
that the directions here given may prove of value. The object 
constantly had in view is, to make fruit trees healthy and fruit- 
ful by keeping their roots near the surface. The root-pruning 
and biennial removal so earnestly recommended are the proper 
means to bring about these results, as they place the roots 
within the influence of the sun and air. The ground over the 
roots of garden trees, as generally cultivated, is dug once or 
twice a year, so that every surface-fibre is destroyed and the 
larger roots driven downwards : they, consequently, imbibe 
crude watery sap, which leads to much apparent luxuriance in 
the trees. This in the end is fatal to their well-doing, for the 
vigorous shoots made annually are seldom or never ripened suf- 
ficiently to form blossom-buds. Canker then comes on, and 
although the trees do not die they rarely give fruit, and in a 



INTRODUCTION". ix 

few years become victims of bad culture, existing in a sort of 
living death. 

There is, perhaps, no fruit tree that claims or deserves our 
attention equal to a pear. How delicious is a fine melting pear 
all the winter months! and to what a lengthened period in the 
spring may they be brought to table ! Till lately, Beurre Ranee 
has been our best spring pear ; but this is a most uncertain 
variety, rarely keeping till the end of May, and often ripening 
in January and February. 

The new Belgian pears, raised many years since by the late 
Major Esperen, and more recently by Monsieur Gr^goire, are 
likely for the present to be the most valuable for prolonging 
the season of rich melting pears ; and of these Josephine de 
Maliues and Bergaraotte d'Esperen are especially deserving of 
notice ; they have the excellent quality of ripening slowly. 
But improvement will, I have no doubt, yet take .place ; for 
pears are so easily raised from seed, and so soon brought into 
bearing by grafting or budding them on the quince stock, that 
new and valuable late pears will soon be as plentiful as new 
roses. 

In the following pages it will be seen that I strongly advo- 
cate the culture of pyramidal fruit trees. This is no new idea 
with me. I have paid many visits to the Continental gardens 
during the greater portion of my active life of business, and 
have always admired their pyramidal trees when well managed, 
and I have for many years cultivated them for my amusement ; 
but, owing to a seeming prejudice against them among somft 
English gardeners, I was for some time deterred from recom- 
ijiending them, for I thought that men older than myself must 
know better; and when I heard some of our market-gardeners 
and large fruit-growers in the neighborhood of London scoff 
at pears grafted on the quince stock, as giving fruit of very 
inferior flavor, I concluded, like an Englishman, that the 

1* 



X INTRODUCTION. 

foreigners were very ignorant, and very far beliind us in the 
culture of fruit trees. 

It Tvas only by repeated visits to foreign gardens that this 
prejudice was dispelled ; and when I saw the beautiful pear 
trees in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris under the management 
of Monsieur Cappe, alluded to in Oardeners' Chronicle, No. 28, 
1847, I felt convinced that our neighbors excelled us in the 
management of fruit trees adapted to the open borders of our 
gardens. I have, therefore, endeavored to make the culture 
of pyramidal trees easy to the uninitiated ; and, having profited 
largely by experience in attending to it with my own hands, I 
trust that my readers will benefit by the result. 

A humid mild climate seems extremely favorable to the 
well-doing of the pear on the quince stock. Jersey, with its 
moist warm climate, as is well known, produces the finest pears 
in Europe : these are for the most part from trees on quince 
stocks. The western coast of Scotland, I have reason to know, 
is favorable for the culture of pear trees on the quince ; and 
within these very few years Ireland has proved remarkably 
so, more particularly in the south, where some of our finest 
varieties of pears on quince stocks are cultivated with per- 
fect success. 



THE 



MINIATUEE FRUIT GARDEN, 



pyrajsddal peak trees on the quince stock. 

There is no description of fruit tree more interest- 
ing to cultivate in our gardens than the pyramid — a 
name adopted from the French, the originators of this 
species of culture. The word conical would, perhaps, 
convey a better idea of the shape of such trees, but as 
pyramidal trees are now becoming familiar things in 
English gardens, it is scarcely worth while to attempt 
to give a new name to these very pretty garden trees. 

For gardens with a moderately deep and fertile soil, 
pears budded on the quince stock will be found to 
make by far the most fruitful and quick-bearing trees ; 
indeed, if prepared by one or two removals, their roots 
become a perfect mass of fibers, and their stems and 
branches full of blossom-buds. Trees of this descrip- 
tion may be planted in the autumn, with the certainty 
of having a crop of fruit the first season after plant- 
ing, — always recollecting that a spring frost may de- 
stroy the blossoms unless the trees are protected. It 
must always be recollected that pears on quince 
1 



2 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

stocks are strictly garden trees, and not adapted for 
orchards. 

The most eligible season for planting pyramidal 
pear trees is dm'ing the monthsof November and De- 
cember, but they may be planted even until the end 
of March ; in planting so late, no fruit must be ex- 
pected the first season. Still, I ought to say here that 
I have frequently removed pear trees on the quince 
stock in March and April just as the blossom-buds 
were bursting, and have had fine fruit the same sea- 
son, particularly if sharp frosts occurred in May. The 
buds being retarded, the blossoms opened after the 
usual period, and thus escaped. The experiment is 
quite worth trying in seasons when the buds swell 
very early. 

If root-pruned pyramidal trees be planted, it will 
much assist them if about half the blossom-buds are 
thinned out with a penknife just before they open ; 
otherwise these root-pruned trees on the quince stock 
are so full of them that the tree receives a check in 
supporting such an abundance of bloom. About ten 
or fifteen fruit may be permitted to ripen the first 
season ; the following* season two or three dozen will 
be as many as the tree ought to be allowed to bring to 
perfection ; increasing the number as the tree increases 
in vigor, always remembering that a few full-sized 
and Avell- ripened pears are to be preferred to a greater 
number inferior in size and quality. 

In the engraving at the commencement of this little 
volume I have given a faithful portrait of a pyramidal 
tree of the Beurre de Capiaumont pear, budded on 
the quince : this was taken in 1846 ; the tree was then 



PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES. 3 

about ten years old, and had been root-pruned three 
times. Nothing could be more interesting than this 
tree, only six feet high, laden with fruit of extraordi- 
nary beauty ; for in my soil, pears on quince stocks 
produce fruit of much greater beauty and of finer fla- 
vor than those on pear stocks. I have, however, 
introduced the figure as much to show its imperfec- 
tion as its beauty : it will be observed that its lower 
tiers of branches are not sufficiently developed ; this 
was owing to neglect when the tree was young — the 
upper branches were sufiered to grow too luxuriantly. 
Smnmer pinching in the youth of the tree is the only 
remedy for this defect, if it be not well furnished be- 
low ; and a severe remedy it is, for all the young shoots 
on the upper tiers, including the leader, must be 
pinched closely in May and June, till the lower ones 
have made young shoots of a sufficient length to give 
uniformity to the tree. This requires much attention. 
The quenouille, or tying-down system, is not prac- 
ticed in France at the present day ; and, in truth, it 
does look very barbarous and unnatural. The trees 
trained in this manner in the Potagerie at Versailles 
are mostly on quince stocks ; they are from twenty to 
forty years old, and are very productive, but very 
iTgly ; all the shoots from the horizontal and depressed 
branches are cropped ofi" apparently in July, as M. 
Puteau, the director, is, I believe, adverse to the 
pinching system of M. Cappe. I have not for many 
years observed a single quenouille in Belgium : all are 
pyramids, even in the gardens of the cottagers, and in 
general they are very beautiful and productive trees. 
In many cases, when on the pear-stock, they are too 



4 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

luxuriant, and require root-pruning ; but this is not 
understood by continental fruit-tree cultivators. 

Pyramids and bushes are the trees best adapted for 
small gardens, and not standards such as are planted 
in orchards. To those conversant with such matters, 
I need only point to the very numerous instances of 
rich garden ground entirely ruined by being shaded 
by large spreading standard, or half-standard un pruned 
fruit trees. ]N ow, by cultivating pyramidal pears on 
the quince — apples in the same form on the paradise 
stock — the cherry as pyramids and dwarf bushes on 
the Cerasus Mahal eb — and the plum as a pyi*amidal 
tree — scarcely any ground will be shaded, and more 
abundant crojjs and jfiner fruit will be obtained. 

THE YOUNG PYRAMID. 

If a young gardener intends to plant, and wishes 
to train up his trees so that they will become quite 
perfect in shape, he should select plants, one year 
old from the bud or graft, with single upright stems ; 
these will, of course, have good buds down to the 
junction of the graft with the stock. The first sj^ring, 
a tree of this description should be headed down, so 
as to leave the stem about eighteen inches long. If 
the soil be rich, from five to six and seven shoots will 
be produced ; one of these must be made the leader, 
and if not inclined to be quite perpendicular, it must 
be fastened to a stake. As soon, in summer, as the 
leading shoot is ten inches long, its end must be 
pinched off; and if it pushes forth two or more shoots, 
pinch off all but one to three leaves, leaving the top- 
most for a leader. The Bide shoots will, in most cases 



THE YOUNG PYRAMID. 5 

assume a regular shape ; if not, they may be tliis first 
season tied to slight stakes to make them grow in the 
proper direction. This is best done by bringing down 
and fastening the end of each shoot to a slight stake, 
so that an open pyi'amid may be formed — for if it is 
too close and cypress-like, enough air is not admitted 




to the fruit. They may remain unpruned till the end 
of August, when each shoot must be shortened to with- 
in eight buds of the stem. This will leave the tree 
like the preceding figure (Fig. 1), and no pruning in 
winter will be required. 

The second season the tree will make vigorous 
growth : the side shoots which were topped last 



6 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

August will each put forth three, four, or more 
shoots. In June, as soon as these have made four 
leaves, they must be pinched off to three leaves, 
and if these spurs put forth shoots, which they 
often do, every shoot must be pinched down to one 
leaf, «^Z hut the leading shoot of each side branch; 
this must be left on to exhaust the tree of its super- 
abundant sap, till the end of August. The perpen- 
dicular leader must be topped once or twice ; in short, 
as soon as it has grown ten inches, pinch off its top, 
and if it break into two or three shoots, pinch them 
all but the leader, as directed for the first season ; in 
a few years most symmetrical trees may be formed. 

When they have attained the height of six or eight 
feet, and are still in a vigorous state, it will be neces- 
sary to commence root-pruning, to bring them into a 
fruitful state. 

If some of the buds in the stem of a young tree 
prove dormant, so that part of it is bare and without 
a shoot where there should be one, a notch, half an 
inch wide, and nearly the same in depth, should be 
cut in the stem just above the dormant bud. If this 
be done in February, a young shoot will break out 
in the summer.' 

I have thus far given directions for those who are 
inclined to rear their own pyramids. Time and at- 
tention are required, but the interest attached to well- 
trained pyramids will amply repay the young cultiva- 
tor. 



• Bare places in the stems of pyramids, and in the branches of espaliers or wall 
trees, may be budded toward the end of August with blossom-buds taken from 
shoots two years old. This is a very interesting mode of ftimiBhing a tree with 
£r.iit-bearing buds. 



THE MATURE PYRAMID. 



THE MATUKE PYKAMID. 



The annexed figure (Fig. 2) is a pyramidal tree 
in its second and third year, and such as it ought to 
be in July before its leading side shoots and leading 




Fig. 2. 



upright shoot are shortened. This, as I have said, is 
best done toward the end of August. The shorten- 
ing must be made at the marks ■ — ; all the side shoots 
must be shortened in this manner, and the leading 



8 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

shoots ; no further pruning will be required till the 
following summer. The spurs a, a, a, are the bases 
of the shoots that have been pinched in June ; these 
will the following season form fruit-bearing spurs. 
The best instrument for summer and autumnal pru- 
ning is a pair of hooked pruning scissors, called also 
" rose nippers." 

SUMMER PmCHING. 

As the summer pinching of pyramidal pears is the 
most interesting feature in their culture, and perhaps 
the most agreeable of all horticultural occupations, I 
must endeavor to give plain instructions to carry it 
out. 

The first season after the planting, about the mid- 
dle or end of June, the side buds and branches will 
put forth young shoots ; each will give from one to 
three or four. Select that which is most horizontal 
in its growth (it should be on the lower part of the 
branch, as the tree will then be more inclined to 
spread) for a leader to that branch, and pinch off all 
the others to three leaves (see Fig. 2, «, a, a). If these 
pinched shoots again push, suffer them to make three 
leaves, and then pinch them to two leaves ; but if the 
horizontal branch has a good leader, it will take off 
all the superfluous sap, and prevent the pinched spurs 
from breaking ; the buds will only swell, and the fol- 
lowing season they will be fruit spurs. The upper 
shoots of the tree, say to about two feet from its top, 
should be pinched a week before the lower shoots : 
this gives strength to those on the lower part of the 
tree. 



SUMMER PINCHING. 



Fig. 3 is a side branch in June, witli its shoots not 
yet pinched ; Fig. 4 is a side branch with its shoots 
a, «, pinched in June ; h is the leader of the side 
branch, which should be pinched or cut off at the end 
of August to c. 





Fig. 



Fig. 4. 



In spring the perpendicular leader of the preceding 
'T(!ar's growth will put forth numerous shoots, which 
must be pinched in June in the following manner : 
those nearest the base, leave six inches in length, 
gradually decreasing upward, leaving those next the 



young leading 
1* 



shoot onlv two inches lonar. The 



10 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

leader of these ready-formed pyramids need not be 
shortened in summer, as directed for younger trees ; 
it may be suffered to grow till the horizontal leaders 
are shortened in August, and then left six or eight 
inches in length ; but if the trees are to be kept to 
six or seven feet in height under root-pruning, this 
leading shoot may be shortened to two inches, or even 
cut close do^m to its base. For tall pyramids of ten, 
twelve, or fifteen feet, it may be left from eight to ten 
inches in length till the required height be attained ; 
it may then be cut to within two inches of its base 
every season. 

I ought here to remark that pear trees differ in 
their habits to an extraordinary degree : some make 
shoots most robust and vigorous ; others, under pre- 
cisely the same treatment, are very delicate and slen- 
der. In the final shortening in August this must be 
attended to ; those that are very vigorous must not 
have their shoots pruned so closely as those that are 
less so ; indeed, almost every variety will require some 
little modification in pruning, of which experience is 
by far the best teacher. It will, I think, suffice, if I 
give the following directions for shortening the lead- 
ers of the side shoots, and the perpendicular lead- 
ers : — All those that are very robust, such as Beurre 
d'Amanlis, Yicar of Winkfield, Beurre Diel, &c., 
shorten to eight or ten inches, according to the vigor 
of the individual tree ; those of medium vigor, such 
as Louise Bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, and Beurre 
d'Aremburg, to six inches; those that are delicate 
and slender in their growth, like Winter Nelis, to 
four inches ; but I must repeat that regard must be 



COMPACT PYRAMIDS. H 

had to the vigor of the tree. If the soil be rich, the 
trees vigorous, and not root-pruned, the shoots may 
be left the maximum length ; if, on the contrary, 
they be root-pruned, and not inclined to vigorous 
growth, they must be pruned more closely. 



COMPACT PYKAMIDS. 

If pyramidal fruit trees, either of pears, apples, 
plums, or cherries, are biennially removed, or even 
thoroughly root-pruned, without actually removing 
them, summer pinching becomes the most simple of 
all operations. The cultivator has only to look over 
his trees twice a week during June, July, and August 
(penknife in hand), and cut or pinch in every shoot 
on the lateral or side branches that has made four 
leaves or more, down to three full-sized leaves. It is 
just possible that the three buds belonging to these 
three leaves will put forth three young shoots : as 
soon as they have made their four or five leaves, they 
must be shortened to two, and so on with every young 
shoot made during the summer, shortening the lead- 
ing shoot also to three leaves. This method of close 
pinching represses the vigor of the tree to a great 
extent, and, in soils that are not very rich, trees under 
it will not require root-pruning. It is a most agree- 
able method of treating pyramidal trees, for no strag- 
gling shoots are seen, and in small neatly-kept gar- 
dens this is a great relief. The pinched shoots in 
these compact pyramids become too much crowded 
with blossom-spurs, they should therefore be thinned 
in winter with a sharp pruning-knife. 



12 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

EOOT-PEUNESTG OF PYRAMIDAL PEAR TEEES ON QUINOE 
STOCKS. 

Before entering on the subject of root-pruning of 
pear trees on quince stocks, I must premise that 
handsome and fertile pyi'amids, more particularly of 
some free-bearing varieties, may be reared without 
this annual or biennial operation. If the annual 
shoots of the tree are not more than eight or ten 
inches long, no root-pruning need be done. I have 
a large plantation of pear trees on the quince stock, 
which have been made very handsome and fertile 
pyramids, yet they have not been root-pruned, neither 
do I intend to root-prune them. But I wish to im- 
press upon my readers that my principal object is to 
make trees tit for small gardens, and to instruct those 
who are not blessed with a large garden, how to keep 
the trees perfectly under control : and this can best 
be done by an?iual, or at least biennial attention to 
their roots ; for if a tree be suflered to grow three or 
more years, and then be root-pruned, it will re- 
ceive a check if the spring be dry, and the crop of 
fruit for one season will be jeopardized. Therefore, 
those who are disinclined to the annual operation, 
and yet wish to confine the growth of their trees 
within limited bounds by root-pruning — say once in 
two years — should only operate upon half of their 
trees one season ;' they will thus have the remain- 

1 In The Journal of irorticiMure for 1S62, page 531, Mr. Lee, of Clevedon, 
gives an account of his root-pruning practice, which he carries out extensively on 
some hundreds of trees. It appears to be an alternate system of root-pruning, and 
may be done as follows :— Open a semicircular trench on one side of the tree, and 
prune all the roots that can be got at; the following season open a trench of tho 



ROOT PRUNING. 13 

ing half in an unchecked bearing state ; and those 
who have ample room and space may pinch their 
pyramids in summer, and suffer them to grow to a 
height of fifteen or twenty feet without pruning their 
roots. I have seen avenues of such trees in Belgium, 
really quite imposing. In rich soils, where the trees 
grow so freely as to make shoots eighteen inches in 
length in one season, they may be root-pruned an- 
nually with great advantage. 

The following summary will perhaps convey my 
ideas respecting the management of pyramids and 
bushes when cultivated as garden trees. In small 
gardens with rich soils, either root-prune or remove 
all the trees annually early in ISTovember. In larger 
gardens perform the same operation biennially at 
the same season. For very large gardens with a dry, 
good sub-soil, in which all kinds of fruit trees grow 
without any tendency to canker, and when large trees 
are desired, neither remove nor root-prune, but pinch 
the shoots in summer, thin them in winter when they 
become crowded, and thus make your trees symmet- 
rical and fruitful. 

Pyramidal pear trees on the quince stock, ivhere 
the fruit garden is small, the soil rich, and when the 
real gardening artist feels pleasure in keeping them 
in a healthy and fruitful state by perfect control over 
the roots, should be annually operated upon as fol- 
lows : — A trench should be dug round the tree, about 
eighteen inches from its stem, every autumn, just 

same shape on the opposite side of the tree (so as to complete the circle), and 
prtme all that can be found there. By this simple method the tree is never 
checked seriously in its growth, yet enough to make it form abundance of blos- 
som-buds. 



14 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

after the fruit is gathered, if the soil be sufficiently 
moist, — if not, it will be better to wait till the usual 
autumnal rains have fallen ; the roots should then be 

^ carefully examined, and those inclined to be of per- 
pendicular growth cut with the spade, which must be 
introduced quite under the tree to meet on all sides, 
80 that no root can possibly escape amputation. All 
the horizontal roots should be shortened with a knife 
to within a circle of eighteen inches from the stem,' 
and all brought as pear to the surface as possible, 
filling in the trench with compost for the roots to rest 
on. The trench may then be filled with the compost 
(well-rotted dung and the mould from an old hotbed, 
equal parts, will answer exceedingly well) • the sur- 
face should then be covered with some half-rotted 
dung and the roots left till the following autunni 
brings its annual care. It may be found that after a 
few years of root-pruning, the circumferential mass of 
fibers will have become too much crowded with small 
roots ; in such cases, thin out some of the roots, 
shortening them at nine inches or one foot from the 
stem. This will cause them to give out fibers, so that 
the entire circle of three feet or more round the tree 
will be full of fibrous roots near the surface, waiting 
with open mouths for the nourishment annually given 
to them by surface dressings and liquid manure. 
Thus far for the gardener who does not mind extra 

I trouble, — who, in short, feels real pleasure in every 
operation that tends to make liis trees perfect in fruit- 
fulness and symmetry. But it is not every amateur 

' If they have not spread to this extent the first season, or even the second, 
they need not be pruned, but merely brought near to the surface and spread out. 



ROOT PRUNING. 15 

gardener that can do this, nor is it always required in 
the south of England, except for small gardens and 
in rich moist soils, in which pear trees are inclined 
to grow too vigorously. But with our too often cool 
moist summers in the northern counties, annual root- 
pruning is quite necessary to make the trees produce 
well-ripened wood. In other cases, as I have before 
observed, shortening the shoots m summer, taking 
care to produce a handsome pyi'amidal form, and if 
they are inclined to grow vigorously, biennial root- 
pruning will be quite suihcient. 

The following will be found a good selection of 
varieties for pyramidal trees on quince stocks. They 
may be planted in rows, five to six feet apart, or a 
square may be allotted to them, giving each plant five 
or six feet, which will be found amply sufficient for 
root-pruned trees. Some few esteemed sorts of pears 
do not grow well on quince stocks, unless "double- 
grafted" — i. e., some free-growing sort is budded on 
the quince, and after having been suffered to grow for 
one or two seasons, the sort not so free-growing is 
budded or grafted on it. For ten varieties, placed in 
the order of their ripening, the undermentioned may 
with safety be recommended.' (In the following lists 
varieties marked thus * may be chosen by those who 
require only a few trees. )^ 

1. Summer Doyenn6* July 

2. Beurr6 GifFard August 

3. Bon Chretien (Williams')* September 

' All the varieties recommended for pyramids may also be planted as espaliers 
to train to rails In the usual mode. 

2 A very good light permanent label for pyramidal and other fruit trees, is a 
6 small piece of zinc, painted with white-lead paint, and written on while moist 
with a strong black-lead pencil, it should be suspended from a side branch of the 
tree (not the stem) by a piece of stout copper wire. 
2 



16 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN". 

4. Beurr6 Superfln* October 

5. Fondante d'Automne October 

6. Louise Bonne of Jersey* in dk e. October 

7. Alexandre Lambr6 Nov. and Dec. 

8. Bfurr6 d'Arenibers* December 

9. Josephine de Malines* March 

10. Bergamotte d'Esperen* (') April and May 



For twenty add- 



11. Tyson August 

12. Colmnx d'Et6 September 

13. Baron de Melln* October 

14 Beurr6 Hardy* October 

15. Doyenn6 Oris e. October 

16. Conseiller de la Cour b. November 

17. Winter Nelis* , December 

18. Beurr6 d'Anjou & December 

19. Beurr6 Sterckmans January 

20. Bezi Mai March to M.ay 

The above succeed on the quince, and form excel- 
lent pyramids. 



ORNAMENTAL PYEAAIDAL PEAE TEEE8 ON QUINCE STOCKS. 

There are some few varieties of pears, the trees 
of which may be made highly ornamental even on a 
well-dressed lawn, as they grow freely and form natu- 
rally beautiful cypress-like trees, at the same time 
their fruit is of first-rate quality. Such are Summer 
Beurre d'Aremberg, Baronne de Mello, Duehesse 
d'Angouleme, Urbaniste,- Alexandre Lambre, Beurre 
Hardy, White Doyenne, Gray Doyenne, Louise Bonne 
of Jersey, Passe Colmar, Zephirin Gregoire, Bem-re 
Leon le Clerc, Delices d'Hardenpont, Prince Albert, 
Delices de Jodoigne, Doyenne de Cornice, Bergamotte 
d'Esperen, and some others. 

1 This is a most abundant bearer. A pyramid in the g.arden of Thomas "White, 
Esq., which was root-pruned iu tlie autumn of 1S58, bore two bushels in 1S59. 



PEAR TREES AS BUSHES. 17 

PEAK TREES AS BUSHES ON THE QUINCE STOCK. 

It is only very recently that this mode of cultivat- 
ing pear trees has struck me as being eligible, from 
having observed the fruit of some of the large heavy 
varieties, such as Beurre Diel and Beurrc d'Amanlis, 
so liable to be blown off pyramids by even moderate 
autumnal gales. The trees also of these and several 
other fine sorts of pears are difficult to train in the 




pyramidal form ; they are diffuse in their growth, and, 
with summer pinching, soon form nice prolific bushes, 
of which the preceding figure (Fig. 5), ft-om nature, 
will give some idea. This summer pinching is quite 
necessary in bush culture, and is performed by pinch- 
ing oft' the end of every shoot as soon as it has made 
four or five leaves, to three full-sized ones ; when the 
branches become crowded they should be thinned by 



18 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

cutting out cleanly with a sliarp knife, in winter 
pruning those that are crowding each other. The 
biennial removal described below is also necessary, 
unless in very large gardens where large spreading 
trees are wished for. Although the taking up and 
replanting a tree niay seem formidable work, it is not 
so, for the roots, from being frequently removed, 
become so fibrous near the surface, that an active man 
can lift and replant one hundred ti-ees in a day. I 
need scarcely add that if root-pruning, as described 
in page 14, be preferred to removal, it may be prac- 
ticed. 

These bushes are admirably adapted for gardens 
exposed to winds, and if removed biennially they may 
be grown in the smallest of gardens with great ad- 
vantage. This biennial removal, or lifting, should be 
performed i.s follows : — A trench should be opened 
round the tree the widtli of a spade, and from twelve 
to fifteen inches deep ; the tree should then be raised 
with its ball of earth attached to its root intact. If 
the soil be light and rich, and the tree inclined to grow 
vigorously, making annual shoofs of more than one 
foot in length, it may be replanted without any fresh 
compost ; but if, on the contrary, the soil be poor, 
and the tree stunted in its growth, the following 
materials may be used : — In low situations near 
brooks and rivers, a l)lack moor earth is generally 
found : this unprepared is unfit for horticultural " >ur- 
poses, but if dug out and laid in a ridge, and one- 
eighth part of unslacked lime be spread over it, turn- 
ing it immediately and mixing the lime with it, it will 
become in the course of five or six weeks an excellent 



PEARS ADAPTED FOR BUSH CULTURE. I9 

compost for pear trees. It is good practice to add 
half a busliel of burnt earth, or the same quantity of 
sand, to a barrowful of this moor earth. Leaf mold 
(or rotten manure), loam, and sand, equal parts, form 
also an excellent compost : in planting, one wlieelbar- 
rowful to a tree will be enough. In London suburban 
gardens, for which these trees are peculiarly adapted, 
no compost need be given to the trees in replanting, 
for the soil in them is generally rich. These bush 
trees offer two very great advantages — they are easily 
protected from spring frosts when in blossom by 
covering them with tiffany, and they may be planted 
from three to live feet apart, so as to be eligible for 
very small gardens with great facility. 

In large gardens in situations exposed to the wind, 
large bushes may be desirable. In such cases the 
leading shoots on each branch may be pinched, as 
recommended for pyramids (page 8) ; but instead of 
pinching them to three leaves, they may be suffered 
to make ten leaves and then be pinched, leaving 
seven. The trees will, if treated in this manner, soon 
become large, compact, and fruitful. 

The following varieties are well adapted for bush 
culture, as they are spreading in their growth and 
difficult to form into couipact pyramids, although 
they may be made into spreading and prolific conical 
trees. It ought, however, to be mentioned that those 
sorts, such as Louise Bonne of Jersey, which form 
handsome pyramids, make very pretty compact 
bushes by cutting out the central branch to within 
three feet of the ground ; so that pyramids may be 
easily formed into bushes. I may add that these bush 



20 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

pears produce the very finest fruit, from their being so 
near the heat and moisture-giving surface of the earth. 
In situations near the sea-coast, exposed to sea 
breezes, small fruit-gardens may be formed by inclos- 
ing a square piece of ground with a beech hedge or 
wooden fence, and planting it with bush trees. A 
piece of ground 500 square feet will be large enough 
to cultivate 30 trees at 4 feet apart in it, or 25 trees 
at 5 feet apart. Many a sea-side cottage may thus 
have its fruit-garden. 

LIST OF PEARS ADAPTED FOR BUSH CULTURE. 

Alexandre Bivort January 

Josi'phine de Malines March 

Marie Louise October 

Winter Nelis December 

Beurr6 d'Amanlis September 

Beurr6 de Eance March 

Beiirr6 Diel December 

Beurr6 Giffard August 

Beurr6 Goubault September 

Doyennfi Boussoeh October 

Jargonelle August 

Ounseiller do la Cour November 

Victoria (Huyshe) November 

Prince of Wales (Huyshe) December 

Dr. Trousseau December 

Z6phirin Gregoire . . January 

Jalousie de Fontenay August 

Catillac (for baking) December 

L6on le Clerc de Laval (for baking) March 

PROTECTORS FOR PYRAMmAL AND BUSH PEAR TREES. 

The weather in spring is often cold and ungenial 
for the blossoms of pear and other fruit trees ; in such 
seasons pyramids shoukl be protected. This is best 
done by fixing four stout stakes round a tree ; these 
should be a little taller than the tree, and then be 
sawn off level. A square piece of calico, or any cheap 
canvas, should then be nailed on the top of the stakes 



•PROTECTORS FOR PEAR TREES. 



21 



to form the roof, the like material brought round the 
sides and fastened to the stakes by small nails or 
tacks, from within eighteen inches of the ground to 
within eight inches of the top, thus leaving a space 
between the top and side covering for free ventila- 
tion, as the air when heated by the sun will rush out 
of the aperture at top in a continual stream. These 
flat-roofed square tents will generally insure a crop of 
fruit. 

Pea-sticks — i. e., stakes with the small brushwood 
on them — stuck round each tree, and spruce or other 
fir branches where these can be procm-ed, are also good 
protectors. For bush trees hay is a capital protector, 
particularly from those still hoar frosts which are gen- 
erally so destructive ; it should be strewed lightly over 
them when they are just commencing to blossom. If 
some brushwood sticks are placed round the bush so 
as to lean over it, the hay will adhere to the spray, 



THE TIFFANY-HOUSE PROTECTOR. 




Section of Tiffany-house. 

and remain undisturbed by the wind. Tiflany may 
be used to throw over pear bushes ; it is so light that 
it does no injury to the tender blossoms ; it should be 
taken off on sunny days. There is, perhaps, no better 



22 TJIE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

protector than old or new netting ; if woolen, all the 
better. This should be thrown over the trees two or 
three times thick, and suffered to remain on till the 
fruit is safe from frosts — i. e.^ till the end of May. 

Houses built with stakes or slight timber, and the 
roofs and sides covered with tiffany, have very re- 
cently been introduced and found efficient in protect- 
ing half-hardy plants from severe frost. 

I now propose to erect temporary houses of the 
same materials to protect dwarf and pyramidal fruit 
trees while they are in bloom, and I have no doubt 
but that they will lead to a new era in fruit garden- 
ing among amateurs, offering as they do a very cheap 
method of protection. A ])order or bed of fruit trees 
may be eight feet wide and planted with three rows 
of bush fi'uit trees as shown in the above section, one 
row in the centre, and the otlier rows three feet from 
it, and tlie trees three feet apart in the rows, thus oc- 
cupying six feet of the bed. 

A tiffany-house to cover the trees in a bed of the 
above width may be eight feet wide, three feet high 
at the sides, and five high in the centre. 

The roof of tiffany should be fastened to tlie rafters 
with shreds three or four times double, so as to make 
a thick pad, and either nailed on with short nails or 
fastened with screws, so that it may be easily taken to 
pieces annually the iirst week in June, for till then 
we are not safe from spring frosts. The tiffimy-house 
should be placed over the trees the first week in 
March, unless the season be unusually early, when the 
middle of February would be better. The sides should 
be loose, and be turned up night and day in mild 



PEAR TREES FOR WALLS. 23 

weather while the trees are in bloom ; but in cold, 
sharp, windy weather in tlie blossoming season they 
should be kept down, and fastened to the upright 
stakes by tying or otherwise. 

A tiffany-house twenty-four feet long and eight feet 
wide will thus shelter twenty-four trees, either bushes 
or pyramids ; if for the latter, the sides of the house 
should be four feet, and its centre seven to eight feet 
in height. If it be thought desirable to keep the 
trees in a comparatively small space, they may be re- 
moved biennially in October, If larger trees are 
desired, the house may be enlarged as the trees grow. 
A tiffany-house may be from one to 500 feet in length, 
and twenty in width if desirable, for there are no par- 
ticular limits to its extent, only the effects of a " March 
vv'ind" must be thought about when lofty and exten- 
sive houses are put up. As measures of economiy, the 
timber and tiffany should be placed in a dry place 
when removed, and the rafters fastened to the plate 
and ridge board with screws. A tiffany-house thus 
treated — "kindly and gently" — will last for several 
years ; and in places where the climate is sufficiently 
warm to ripen apricots, plums, pears, cherries, and 
even early peaches, in the open air, they will, I have 
no doubt, be extensively employed. 

PEAR TREES ON THE QUINCE STOCK TRAINED AS UPRIGHT 
CORDONS. 

The French gardeners employ the term cordon for 
the branch of a fruit tree on which the shoots have 
been pinched in so as to form a succession of blossom- 
buds. The term, as used by them, is expressive, and 



24 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

lately an interesting work has been published by the 
Rev. T. C. Brehaut, of Guernsey, on this mode of 
training, under the title of "• Cordon Training of Fruit 
Trees.'' It is simply the pinching off the ends of the 
shoots on a branch, so as to make them form blossom- 
buds, and fruit trees under this mode are planted in 
an oblique position on walls. With pear trees on the 
quince stock there is no occasion for this, and the up- 
right or vertical cordon will be found the most con- 
es 

venient mode of training, for which see Fig. 6. To 
carry out this mode of training, in April, 1849, I 
planted one of each of some new and esteemed pears 
on quince stocks against a boarded fence, so that they 
would quickly come into bearing. The usual method 
of horizontal training I found would take up too much 
space, and I could not find room for half the number 
of trees I wished to plant. In this strait, an old idea 
came to my assistance — that of cutting pyramidal 
trees flat, and planting them against walls ; and then 
a modification of the idea came to hand — viz., to plant 
horizontal espaliers, and to make them perpendicular. 
In the next page is a figure of one of my vertical cor- 
don pear trees. (Fig. 6.) 

The shoots, «, a, should be eight inches from the 
central shoot, and those marked h, h, the same distance 
from those marked a, a. This tree with five branch- 
es will thus occupy thirty-two inches — say three feet 
of wall room ; a tree with seven branches will require 
four feet, but as some space ought to be allowed for the 
spurs on the outside branches, say five feet. If the 
wall be of a moderate height — eight feet for instance 
— a tree with seven branches will produce quite 



PEAR TREES FOR WALLS. 



25 



fruit enough of one sort. This method offers a strong 
contrast to espaliers on pear stocks, planted in the 
usual manner, twenty-four feet apart, and trained hori- 
zontally ; nearly five trees for one will give so many 



A VERTICAL CORDON PEAR TEEB. 




additional chances to the pear cultivator ; the single 
tree may fail, or its fruit may become imperfect, ow- 
ing to an adverse season ; but out of his five trees, he 
will in every season stand a good chance of having some 
good pears. A few words will suffice for their man- 
agement : summer pinching of the shoots to three 
leaves all through the summer as recommended for 
pyramids (page 8), and root pruning, or biennial re- 



26 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

moval, these operations — like Dr. Sangrado's bleeding 
and warm water — will do all. 

Vertical cordon trees, not only of peai-s bnt of cher- 
ries on the Mahaleb stock ; of plums, and of Ameri- 
can apples on the Paradise stock (peach trees are too 
vigorous in their halnt), may be planted against walls 
in gardens, if of a moderate size, to great advantage. 
As so much variety may be had in a small space, let 
the reader imagine himself to have a brick wall with 
a southern aspect, 20 feet long and 8 or 10 feet high. 
According to old notions, this would afford space for 
one tree, but with vertical cordon training, I repeat, 
five trees may be cultivated, and thus give five chances 
to one. 

If upright trained trees on the quince stock can not 
be procured, those that are trained horizontally, with 
five or seven branches, may be planted against the 
wall or fence destined for them ; and their young 
shoots, a, a, and h, b, in Fig. 6, be made to curve 
gently till they are peii^endicular — the young shoots 
of pear trees are very pliable, and will easily bend to 
the required shape. Tlie lower part of each shoot in 
such cases must be t{istened to the wall with shreds 
and nails, in the usual way, and the remaining part 
brought round to an upright position. If they are 
more than two feet in length, each of these shoots must 
then be shortened to it. These shortened branches 
will, in May, each put forth two or three shoots. As 
soon as they have made four leaves, pinch all but one 
on each branch to three leaves, leaving the topmost 
one to each shoot, a, a, and h, h, as above, also to the 
leader. You will tlius, if your tree be five branched. 



PEAR TREES FOR WALLS. 27 

have five young leading shoots. As soon in June as 
they have attained to eight inches in length, pinch off 
the end of each ; and when they break into two or 
three shoots as before, pinch so as to leave the spurs 
with three leaves, and the leading shoot unpinched to 
each branch. This may be repeated, if the soil be rich, 
two, three, or four times in the summer. Your tree 
will soon reach the top of the wall, and every bud in 
the five branches will be perfect — either a blossom- 
bud, or one in embryo. When every branch has 
reached the top of the wall, commence root-pruning 
(or biennially lifting them) in autumn, the directions 
for which are given in treating of pyramidal trees. 
These may be followed exactly ; and if so, the trees 
will be kept in a stationary bearing state. It must be 
recollected that the spurs on the branches will often 
put forth shoots even while bearing fruit ; these must 
be pinched in to three leaves. 

I may as well hint to the reader that, if larger trees 
are wished for, so as to give more fruit of each sort, 
trees with ]iine upright branches may be planted seven 
feet apart, or trees with eleven upright branches, nine 
feet apart. Trees, however, can seldom be purchased 
Avith shoots so numerous ; young trees must, therefore 
be planted, and cut back annually for two or three 
years, till the proper number of perpendicular shoots 
are supplied. It may happen that trained trees with 
five or seven branches can not be procured, perhaps 
trees with only three shoots, two horizontal and one 
leading shoot ; in such cases they must be cut back, 
leaving five buds to each shoot, and the yomig shoots 
in June trained as required. 



28 



THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



Pyramidal trees cut flat on the side to be placed 
next the wall, and planted against walls or fences, 
will give almost a certain crop. Their shoots must 
be pinched, and trained so as to form a handsome 
semi-pjramidal tree, which, when it has reached the top 




FiQ. 7. 



of the wall, must be subjected to biennial removal, so as 
to keep it in a stationary fruitful state. Annexed I 
give a figure (Fig. 7) of a young pyramid planted 
against a south-east fence. 
It will, I trust, be seen how economical of space are 



PEAR TREES FOR WALLS. 29 

these methods of training pears to walls ; and I know 
of nothing in fruit culture more interesting than a 
wall of upright espaliers, or of pyramids full of fruit. 
Let us only consider that a wall 100 feet long will ac- 
commodate four trees on the pear stock, trained in the 
usual horizontal mode ; the same wall will give " am- 
ple room and verge enough " to twenty trees on the 
quince stock, trained perpendicularly ; if their young 
shoots (all but the leaders) are pinched in to three 
leaves all the summer, no root-priming will be needed. 
They are also invaluable for planting against walls 
between old trees where there are bare spaces, as is 
so often the case; for they soon fill up such vacancies, 
and bear abundance of fine fruit. A selection of va- 
rieties for wall trees will not here be out of place. 

.UPRIGHT TEATNED TREES ON QUESrCE STOCKS. 

FOR BOUTH OR SOUTH-WEST WALLS. 

Crassane* Glou Morceau* 

Summer Doyenn6» Beurr6 Hardy 

Chaumontel Van Mons (L6on le Clerc) 

Passe Colmar Gansel's Bergamot' 

FOR WEST OB NORTH- WEST WALLS. 

Benrr6 Diel* Beurr6 Saperfln* 

Beurr6 d'Amanlis Marie Louise* 

Beurr6 de Kance Louise Bonne of Jersey 

Beurr6 Sterckmans* Josephine de Malines* 

FOB EAST OB SOUTH-EAST WALLS. 

Beurr6 Easter* Doyenn6 d'Alenf on 

Beurr6 d'Aremberg* Beurre de Caen 

Bergamotte d'Esperen Consellier de la Cour 

Winter Nells* Beurr6 d'Anjou* 

The above varieties grafted on pear stocks are 

• This will ripen on walls toward the end of June, quickly followed by Citron 
des Carmes. 

^ It is not generally known that this fine variety, proverbially a shy bearer, be- 
comes, when double grafted on the quince stock, one of the most abundant bearers. 



30 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

equally adapted for their several aspects. In shallow, 
gravelly, or chalky soils, pears on pear stocks are to 
be preferred for walls. 

It is almost useless to plant dessert pears against 
north or north-east walls, as the fruit, iniless in very 
warm seasons, is generally deficient in flavor. The 
only varieties that offer the least chance of success, 
and that only in a warm climate with a dry soil, are 
Marie Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, and Beurre 
Superlin. It is far better to plant against such as- 
pects baking or stewing pears, such as Catillac, Bel- 
lissime d'lliver, and Leon le Clerc de Laval ; the 
Yicar of Wiidciield is also a good north wall pear — it 
bears well and stews well. In the north the finer 
sorts of pears must be cultivated on south waAh. 

In recommending pears on quince stocks as py- 
ramidal trees for cold soils and situations, even in the 
far north, I may appear theoretical ; but from my 
own experience, in some very cold and clayey soils in 
this neighborhood, I feel sanguine as to the result, 
for I have observed in my frequent visits to the pear 
gardens of France that many sorts are often too 
r/j)'-. I^ow, this is just the tendency we require. In 
our cold and moist climate, most certainly, pears will 
not get too ripc^ more especially in the north of Eng- 
land and Scotland. Some years since I received a 
letter from a correspondent living in a hilly part of 
Derbyshire, from which I give an extract : — " I have 
tried Beurre Diel, Beurre de Capiaumont, Marie 
Louise, and Williams's Bon Chretien, on pear stocks, 
all of which bear well as standards, but their fruit 
does not come to perfection — always remaining quite 



CORDON PEARS OiT TRELLISES. 



31 



hard till they decay at the core. I have placed the 
fruit in a hot-house, but have never succeeded in 
ripening them. Williams's Bon Chretien we can only 
use for stewing." This seems to show that cold hilly 
situations are not favorable to the cultivation of 
pears as standards. I have recommended some pears 
on quince stocks, and have heard of a favorable re- 
sult. 



COEDON PEARS ON TRELLISES UNDER GLASS. 

Some few years since a very ingenious method of 
growing peaches and nectarines on trellises, over 
which were placed movable glass lights, was in- 
vented by Mr. Bellenden Ker. In warm and shel- 
tered gardens this mode of culture answers very well 
for peaches, but in cool climates there is not day-heat 
enough stored up, as in houses, to act upon the fruit. 
Cheap orchard-houses are, therefore, to be preferred 
to these cheap trellises for the above kinds of fruits, 
unless the garden be small and much sheltered. 

Soon after I had built my trellis for peaches, it oc- 
curred to me that the system applied to pear culture 
would do well, and so I built a trellis 60 feet long and 
7 feet wide ; on this I planted upright espalier pears 
on quince stocks. Fig. 8 is a section of this trellis, 




Fig. 8. 



and Fig. 9 is a front view of a pear tree trained to it 



32 



THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



in the upright method. My trellis was planted eight 
years ago, and has now on it twenty fine trees, about 
ten years old, and in full bearing. They were planted 
three feet apart, as it was my first experiment, and 




Fio. 9. 

are now a little crowded ; four feet apart will be 
found the proper distance. I have never seen any 
thing more interesting in fruit culture than this trellis 
covered with pears, for, owing to its being near the 
ground, the radiation of heat and moisture gives the 
fruit a size and beauty rarely seen even on walls. 

The lights should remain over the trees till the 
beginning of July, and then be removed, suiferiug the 
fruit to ripen fully exposed to the sun and air. It 
seems that the glass over the fruit in its young state 
serves to develop its growth in a remarkable manner, 
for rarely is a spot seen on pears grown on these trel- 
lises ; they have a clear, beautiful appearance, much 
like those grown in the warmer parts of France, i 
ought to add, that in cool climates, such as the north 
of England and Scotland, the lights may be suffered 
to remain over the trees till the beginning or middle 
of August. This will hasten tlie ripening of the fruit, 
but it should be exposed to the air in early autumn 
for some weeks before it is gathered (unless the cli- 
mate be particularly cold and stormy), or it may suffer 
in flavor. Pears ripened under glass are apt to sufi'er 



CORDON PEARS ON TRELLISES UNDER GLASS. 33 

in this respect. I have, however, very recently re- 
ceived the following communication from a very 
clever fruit-cultivator living in Ireland : — 

" Let no one persuade you that pears grown in a 
well-ventilated orchard-house are not equal to those 
outside ; I can give strong evidence to the contrary. 
In my house there was a small Louise Bonne on the 
quince stock, in an 11-inch pot ; it bore 23 splendid 
pears, as far superior to the same fruit grown in the 
open air, as it was possible to be. They were not, I 
admit, high-colored, but they attained a richness and 
flavor that I thought Louise Bonne' did not possess." 

The pear trellis, of which the section and front \'iew 
(Figs. 8 and 9) will give a correct idea, is of the most 
simple description. A row of larch or oak posts must 
be driven into the ground 6 feet apart, and another 
row in front ; on these should be nailed plates, 3 
inches by 2, and then bars, 3 inches by 1, placed flat- 
wise, from front plates to back, 3 feet apart ; across 
these, common tiling laths should be nailed, six inches 
asunder. This will form the trellis, as seen in Fig. 
9. The supports for the lights are formed in the same 
manner, by a row of posts at the back, and the same 
for the front, on which are nailed plates of the same 
dimensions as those for the trellis ; a cross-piece should 
be nailed to front and back plate at each end, to keep 
the supports for the lights from giving way. The 
structure with the lights, when resting on the back 
and front plates, has exactly the appearance of a large 
garden frame without back, front, or ends. Under 
the lights the trellis is formed with a sharp slope up- 
ward to the back ; for unless the front of the trellis 



3i THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

is within six inches of the ground, it will be difficult 
to bend the trees to the required position. By this 
simple contrivance, pears (and even peaclies and nec- 
tarines, in warm gardens) may be grown in any cor- 
ner of the garden, with a south or southwestern expo- 
sure — for it is scarcely necessary to add that the 
lights should slope to the south or south-west, so as to 
have all the sun-heat possible. 

Tlie most eligible dimensions for a trellis, I find 
from experience to be as follows : — 

Glass Lights. 
Eislit feet long, three feet wide. 
Hiight from ground at back, three feet six inches. 
Height from ground sit front, one foot six inches. 

Trellis. 

Height from ground at 'back, two feet six inches. 
Height from ground at front, sis inches. 
Distance fnim ghiss lights, oue foot. 

The front border should be raised to a level with the 
front of trellis ; this will leave twelve inches between 
the front ends of the lights and the surface of tlie 
front border, which will be quite enough for ventila- 
tion ; indeed, the draught in windy w^eather is inclined 
to be too sharp. I find, therefoi'e, furze, or other ever- 
green branches, placed along the front, between the 
glass and the border, and a mat nailed at the back, 
excellent checks to excessive ventilation in cold frosty 
weather. They may remain there till the beginning 
or end of June ; the latter, if the weather be cold and 
stormy. The lights are fastened to the plate, back 
and front, by a hook-and-eye ; they are thus easily 
removed to prune the trees and gather the fruit. 
I was induced, as I thought, to improve upon Mr. 



CORDON PEAR TREES ON DWARF WALLS. 35 

Ker's plan, by having my first trellis witliin eight 
inches of the glass — for I calculated, the nearer the 
glass the better the chance of success in early ripen- 
ing ; but I suffered for my innovation. My peach 
trees were planted in March, 1848 ; they made during 
the summer, with the lights constantly on, beautifully 
matured shoots, and in March and April, 1850, were 
gay with blossom. The winds were cold, the nights 
frosty ; but, owing to the extreme ventilation, which 
kept every bud and shoot dry under the glass, not a 
blossom was injured by the sharp winds, and the trees 
were covered with fruit. On the fatal 3d of May, 
however, in 1850, a still hoar frost — the thermometer 
down to 23° — destroyed all my hopes, for, owing to 
the trees being too near the glass, every fruit was 
blackened and destroyed : a single mat would have 
saved them ; but I was not at home, and my pet trees 
were forgotten. Do not, therefore, have the trellis 
nearer the glass than twelve inches. 

It will be seen that I employ smaller lights, which 
are easily removable for purposes of culture, and a 
smaller trellis than that described by Mr. Ker in the 
seventh edition of this work. I find fi-om experience 
this smaller edition of the Kerian trellis much to be 
recommended for small gardens. 

HORIZONTAL CORDON PEAR TREES ON DWARF WALLS. 

Having had occasion within these two years to 
erect a lars-e number of four-inch brick walls on which 
to train young peach trees, I have been much struck 
with their eligibility for pear trees on quince stocks. 
A very large number of trees may be cultivated in 
this manner on a email ijiece of crround. 



36 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

My walls have a nine-incli foundation of three 
courses of brickwork in the ground, and they are 
carried up to four feet above the surface (it is scarcely 
safe to build them of a greater height), with nine-inch 
piers fifteen feet apart. The coping for them is made 
of boiling coal-tar mixed with lime and sand to the 
consistence of mortar, which is placed on the top of 
the walls thus ^ so as to carry off the water. This is 
a most cheap and efficacious covering — it can scarcely 
be called a coping, as it does not project over the 
edge of the wall. A coping of Portland cement is 
even better, as it holds the wall together. 

The best description of bricks for these light walls 
are the patent perforated bricks, but common stock 
bricks will do. The very best lime should be used 
(I have found the gray Dorking lime excellent), but 
any kind of lime made from limestone will answer 
well ; that made from chalk in this coimty is not strong 
enough. Their cost, as I learn from my bricklayer, 
is about six shillings the yard in length ; thus a wall 
of the above height, twenty yards long, should cost 
six pounds. In places where bricks are cheap, they 
may be built for less ; if they are dear and at a ^dis- 
tance, their carriage will add to the expense. My 
walls are six feet apart, and stand endwise, N. E. and 
S. "VV. ; so that one side of each wall has a S. E. aspect, 
the otlier a IST. W. ; on the former may be grown the 
late-keeping pears, on the latter the earlier sorts, that 
ripen from October till the end of November. We 
thus have one excellent aspect — the S. E. ; and one 
tolerably good — the IST. W. : so that no wall space is 
lost. 



CORDON PEAR TREES ON DWARF WALLS. 



37 



The pear trees for these dwarf walls should be 
grafted on quince stocks, and trained horizontally. 
They may be planted five feet apart at first, and when 
their branches meet they should be interlaced, as in 
Fig. 10, and if necessary — /. e.^ if the shoots be long 
enough — they may be trained over the stems, so that 
the wall is completely furnished with bearing branch- 
es. At the end of five or six years every alternate 
tree may be removed, leaving the permanent trees ten 
feet apart. I advise planting thus thickly, because I 




Fig. 10. 



know from experience, that the temporary trees will 
fill the walls, will bear a good quantity of fruit, and 
look more satisfactory than if they are planted thinly. 
When removed they may be planted out for espaliers, 
or fresh walls built for them. I have some trees that 
have been planted six years ; but I find that, owing 
to the soil not being rich, they have not grown rapidly, 
and need not yet be removed, as their branches only 
just cover all the fence to which they are trained. 

If, owing to the soil being rich, the trees are 
inclined to grow vigorously and not bear, they should 



38 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

be lifted biennially ; but pears on quince stocks will 
be sure to bear abundantly. 

These dwarf walls, when covered with well-trained 
trees, have a neat and cliarming efl'ect ; and the trees 
may be so easily protected by sticking branches of 
evergreens in the ground and letting tliem rest against 
the wall, or by wooden shutters, placed on the ground 
at an angle so as to rest against the wall ; but I 
intend to be more luxurious, and to liave cheap glass 
lights, in lieu of shutters, placed against the walls, 
and suffered to remain, so as to cover the trees till the 
fruit is fully formed, or till the first week in June, 
when all fear of damage from frost is over. 

Where two or more walls are built, or a square 
piece of ground devoted to them, a cross wall or 
walls should be built at the north-east end, to prevent 
the sharp current of wind from the north-east, which 
would blow up the intervals between the walls with 
great violence. It is surprising what a quantity of 
fruit may be grown on a small space of ground with 
the aid of these walls ! Peaches, nectarines, and 
apricots may be grown on the S. E. aspect, but the 
trees must be kept in check by biennial removal. I 
have at this moment more than two thousand yards in 
length of them, and I intend to add to them annually, 
so convinced am I of their economy and utility. They 
seem to me most particularly suited to suburban, 
or what are connnonly called cockney gardens. How 
pleasant to be able to have a brick wall twenty yards 
long for six pounds, or ten yards long for three 
pounds ! and how delightful to be able to grow one's 
own " wall fruit !" On a wall ten yards long, five 



CORDON PEAR TREES ON DWARF WALLS. 30 

peach and nectarine trees may be trained, and many 
dozens of fruit produced annually. These dwarf 
walls for the cultivation of peaches, nectarines, and 
apricots must, however, differ from those for pear trees, 
and be built so as to give a south or south-west aspect 
for the front, a north or north-east for the back. The 
latter may be planted with Morello cherries. To 
cai-ry out the cultivation of the above-mentioned trees 
on dwarf walls, it is absolutely necessary to take 
them up biennially in November, and replant them 
in the same place.' They will not require any com- 
post to their roots, for peach, nectarine, and apricot 
trees are generally by far too vigorous in their growth. 
In some of the London suburban gardens the soil is so 
rich, that annual removal, particularly with apricots, 
Yi\^x be found to be quite necessary. In country 
gardens vrhere the soil is poor, a dressing of manure 
on the surface over the roots two inches deep will be 
of service. The peach trees on my experimental wall 
are removed biennially. The soil is not rich, yet 
they are almost too vigorous ; they bear fine fruit and 
give good crops. 

A matter of great consequence in peach tree cul- 
ture on walls is to keep the surface of the soil solid ; 
if, therefore, the trees grow too vigorously, so as 
to require removal, say in October, the soil, after the 
tree is planted, should, after becoming dry, be ram- 
med with a wooden rammer, so as to be as solid as 
a common garden path. In spring this hard surface 
should be covered with a slight deposit of thoroughly 

1 It is a prudent practice in all cases of biennial removal to remove half the 
number of trees in alternate years, for in dry seasons those recently removed may 
be too much checked in their growth. 



40 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

decayed manure, whicli will be all the culture 
required, 

ESPALIER PEAES ON QUINCE STOCKS. 

Pears on the quince may be cultivated as horizontal 
espaliers or cordons by the sides of walks, or trained 
to lofty walls with much advantage, as less space 
is required. Horizontal espaliers, or wall trees, on 
the pear stock, trained to Avails of the usual heiglit — 
i. e., from ten to twelve feet — require to be planted 
twenty feet apart, while those on the quince may 
be planted only ten feet apart ; this in a small 
garden will allow of much greater variety of sorts to 
supply the table at different seasons. "Witli these the 
same high culture, if perfection be wished for, must 
be followed ; the trees carefully planted, so that the 
junction of the graft with the stock is even with the 
surface of the mound formed as directed for pyramids. 
The pruning of wall pear trees has always been a 
subject of controversy with gardeners, as they are 
inclined to grow too vigorously. If it be thought 
desirable to have trees of large growth, so as to 
cover a high wall, and yet be highly fertile, it is much 
better to root-prune than to prune the branches. 
"With such trees it need not be done so severely : 
biennial root-pruning will be quite suflBcient, com- 
mencing at eighteen inches from the wall, after the 
tree has had two seasons' growth, cutting off the ends 
of all the roots at that distance from the wall, and in- 
creasing it by six inches at every biennial pruning, 
till a distance of six feet from the wall is reached. 
When this is the case, the roots must be confined 



ESPALIER PEARS ON QUINCE STOCKS. 41 

to the border of that width by digging a trench bien- 
nially, and cutting off all the ends of the roots at that 
distance from the wall. 

I may, perhaps, make this more plain by saying 
that a tree planted in l^ovember, 1860, should have 
its roots shortened to eighteen inches in ISTovember, 
1862 ; to twenty -four inches in 1864 ; to thirty indies 
in 1866; to three feet in 1868; and so on, leaving 
six inches biennially, till, say, a distance of six feet 
from the wall is reached in 1880. This border, six 
feet wide,' will then be fiill of fibrous roots. It should 
never be dug or cropped, but annually have a sur- 
face dressing of manure about two inches in thick- 
ness; and, as I have before said, have a trench 
dug biennially eighteen inches deep, six feet from the 
wall, and the end of every protruding root cut off. If 
this method be followed, summer pinching to three 
leaves the first time, and to one leaf afterward, 
of the spurs on all the leading branches, may be 
practiced, and scarcely any winter pruning will be re- 
quired. 

In forming borders for wall pear trees on quince 
stocks biennially root-pruned, the soil should be well 
stirred with the fork to a depth of eighteen inches, 
and if it be poor a good dressing of rotten manure or 
leaf mold should be mixed with it. Pears on quince 
stocks are much better adapted for this mode of cul- 
ture than those on pear stocks. If the latter be 
planted, the border, six feet wide, should have a 

1 If the wall to which the trees are trained be twelve feet and upward in 
height, the border should be eight and even ten feet in width. Wide and 
shallow fruit tree borders are mnch to be preferred to those that are deep and 
narrow. 



42 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

thick layer of concrete at bottom, to prevent the roots 
striking downward ; or it would be good practice to 
place, eighteen inches deep, under each tree, a flat 
piece of stone, three feet in diameter — this would 
force the roots to take a horizontal direction, and 
facilitate the operation of root-pruning. 

For fine specimens of wall pear trees grafted on the 
quince, I may refer to those on the west wall of the 
Koyal Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick. 
These are now about forty years old, and are pictures 
of health and fertility, thus at once settling the ques- 
tion respecting the early decay of pear trees grafted 
on the quince; for it has been often — very often — 
urged as an objection to the use of the quince stock, 
that pears grafted on it are, although prolific, but very 
short-lived. I have seen trees in France more than 
fifty years old, and those above referred to may be 
adduced to confute this error. 

PEAK TREES TRAINED SINGLE AS VERTICAL CORDONS. 

The French gardeners have a curious yet interesting 
mode of training pears on the cpiince stock, about 
which a book Avas published in France a few years 
since. The system, I have recently learnt from some 
French cultivators, is now largely practiced in the 
south of France with the peach apricot. It is called 
training " en fuseau," or distafi" training ; and is the 
most simple of all modes. A young tree, one year 
old from the bud, is planted, and every side shoot, as 
soon as it lias made four leaves, has its top pinched off, 
leaving three. This is the first pinching early in 
June These pinched shoots all put f )rth young 



A PEAR TREE HEDGE. 43 

slioots, whicti must be pinched to one leaf ; and so on 
with all the young slioots during the summer, and tlie 
like practice every season. When the leading shoot 
has grown twelve inches, its top should be pinched 
off, and as soon as two or three break out at this 
point, all should be pinched in but one for the leader. 
A very compact distaff-like tree is thus formed. 

For small gardens, where the cultivator wishes for 
a large collection of pears in a small place, this (which 
is, in fact, the cordon system applied to single stem- 
med trees) is to be recommended. 

A PEAK TREE HEDGE. 

A few days since, when visiting a friend at Fonte- 
nay aux Roses, near Paris, I was much struck with a 
hedge formed of pear trees on the quince stock. He 
smiled when he told me his method of cultivation 
and pruning, the latter being simply clipping his 
hedge in July, with the garden shears,' and thinning 
out the spurs in winter, when they become crowded. 
A few days since (July, 1862), my friend paid me a 
visit, and I inquired, with some interest, about his 
pear tree hedge. He assured me that it was perfectly 
healthy, and generally gave him large crops of fruit. 
The sorts proper to form a hedge are Louise Bonne of 
Jersey, Beurre d'Amanlis, Beurre Hardy, Conseiller 
de la Cour, Beurre d'Aremberg, Beurre Superfin, 
Delices de Jodoigne, Doyenne du Cornice, Duchesse 
d' Angouleme, Prince Albert, and Yicar of Winkfield. 
These are all free growers on the quince stock, and if 

• An English cultivator -would employ pruning scissors to shorten the shoota, 
and thus make his hedge look as if cared for. 



44: THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

planted in a favorable soil and climate would soon 
form a fruitful hedge. They should be planted about 
thirty inches apart, and in masses, /. e.^ planting, say 
ten of each sort together. A hedge may be formed, 
varying more in its aspect by planting one or two 
trees of each sort in succession — this is a mere matter 
of taste. A pear tree hedge when in full bloom must 
have an agreeable look, and when full of fruit be very 
profitable. 

PYEAJViroS ON THE PEAK STOCK. 

There are some dry, warm, shallow soils, more par- 
ticularly those resting on chalk or gravel, which are 
unfavorable to the pear on the quince stock : it is 
difficult to make them flourish, unless great care is 
taken in mulching the surface, and giving them abund- 
ance of water and liquid manure in summer. In such 
soils, pyramids on the pear stock may be cultivated 
with but little trouble. 

To those who wish to train them as they should 
grow, one-year-old grafted plants may be selected, 
which may be managed as directed for young pjTa- 
mids on the quince stock. If trees of mature growth 
are planted, they will require tiie treatment recom- 
mended for pyramids on the quince stock, as regards 
summer pinching. There is no occasion, however, to 
make a mound up to the junction of the graft with 
the stock, as the pear does not readily emit roots. 
Annual root-pruning is almost indispensable to pyra- 
mids on pear stocks in sinall gardens, and it will 
much facilitate this operation if each tree be planted 
ou a small mound, the roots are then so easily brought 



PYRAMIDS ON THE PEAR STOCK. 45 

to the surface. This annual operation, which should 
be done in JSTovember, may be dispensed with in soils 
not rich, if the trees be lifted biennially in that month 
and replanted, merely pruning off the ends of any 
long roots. Annual surface manuring, as recom- 
mended for pyramids on the quince, is also necessary, 
if the trees be root-pruned or biennially removed. 

Trees of the usual size and quality may be planted, 
and suffered to remain for two years undisturbed, 
unless the soil be rich and they make vigorous shoots 
(say eighteen inches in length) the first season after 
planting, in which case operations may then com- 
mence the first season. Thus, supposing a tree to be 
planted in November or December, it may remain 
untouched two years from that period ; and then as 
early in autumn as possible a circumferential trench, 
twelve inches deep, should be dug, and every root cut 
with tlie knife and brought near to the surface, and 
the spade introduced under the trees, so as completely 
to intercept every perpendicular root. 

The treddle spade used in this part of Hertfordshire 
is a very eligible instrument for this purpose, as the 
edge is steeled and very sharp. The following year, 
the third from planting, a trench may be again opened, 
at fifteen inches from the stem, so as not to injure the 
fibrous roots of the preceding summer's growth, and 
the knife and spade again used to cut all the spread- 
ing and perpendicular roots that are getting out of 
bounds. The fourth year the same operation may be 
repeated at eighteen inches from the stem ; and in all 
subsequent root-pruning this distance from the stem 
must be kept. This will leave enough undisturbed 



46 THE MINIATUEE FRUIT GARDEN. 

earth round each tree to sustain as much fruit as 
ought to grow, for the object is to obtain a small pro- 
lific tree. 

I lind that in the course of years a perfect mass of 
iibrous roots is formed, which only requires the annual 
or biennial operation (the former if the tree be very 
vigorous) of a trench being dug, and tlie ball of earth 
heaved down to ascertain whether any large feeders 
are making their escape from it, and to cut them oif. 
But it must be borne in mind that this circular mass 
of soil will in a few years be exhausted ; to remedy 
which, I have had left round each tree, eighteen 
inches from the stem, a slight depression of the soil, 
or, in other words, the trench has not been quite filled 
in. This circular furrow I have had tilled, in Decern 
ber and January, with fresh liquid night soil, cover- 
ing it with a coat of burnt earth two inches thick, 
which has had a most excellent effect. Any other 
liquid manure would undoubtedly have been equally 
efficacious, but my soil was poor, and I thought it 
required strong manure. As it did not come in con- 
tact with the roots, no injury resulted from using such 
a powerful raw manure. 

There is no absolute necessity for liquid manuring 
in winter, as common dung may be laid round each 
tree in autumn, and suffered to be washed in by the 
rains in winter, and drawn in by the worms. In 
mentioning liquid manure, I give the result of my 
own practice. The great end to attain seems (to use 
an agricultural phrase) to be able " to feed at home ;" 
that is, to give the mass of spongioles enough nutri- 
ment in a small space. A tree will then make shoots 



ROOT-PRUNING AND REMOVING. . 47 

from eight to ten inches long in one season (for such 
ought to be the maximum of growth), and at the 
same time be able to produce abundance of blossom- 
buds and fruit. On trees of many varieties, the for- 
mer will be in too great abundance: removing a 
portion in early spring, cutting them out with a sharp 
knife, so as leave each fruit-spur about three inches 
apart, is excellent culture. 

I have not yet mentioned the possibility of root- 
pruning fruit trees of twenty or thirty years' growth 
with advantage. Irregular amputation of the roots 
of too vigorous fruit trees is, I am aware, an old prac- 
tice ; but the regular, and annual or biennial prun- 
ing of them, so as to keep a tree full of youth and 
vigor in a stationary and prolific state, has not, that 
I am aware of, been recommended by any known 
author, although it may have been practiced. In 
urging its applicability to trees of twenty or thirty 
years' growth, I must recommend caution : the cir- 
cular trench should not be nearer the stem of a 
standard tree than three feet, or, if it be a wall tree, 
four feet, and only two-thirds of the roots should be 
pruned the first season, leaving one-third to support 
the tree, so that it can not be blown on one side by the 
wind — and these, of course, must be left where they 
will best give this support. The following season 
half the remaining roots may be cut, or, if the tree be 
inclined to vigor, all of them ; but if it gives symp- 
toms of being checked too much, they may, on the 
contrary, remain undisturbed for one, or even two 
seasons. If, as is often the case in pear trees, the 
roots are nearly all perpendicular, the tree must be 



48 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

supported with stakes for one or two years after com 
plete root-pruning. 

The following extract from a letter recently re- 
ceived from C. Roach Smith, Esq., the arch^ologist, 
is interesting, as showing the prompt effects of root- 
2>riming of trees : — " I have only been a horticulturist 
for three years ; I took to two very beautiful old pear 
trees, which must have cost no endof nailing, cutting, 
and staking. On inquiry, I found tliat one (a Sum- 
mer Bon Chretien) had never produced more than 
one pear annually ; the other, upon a north wall, had 
never given a single pear. I could get no aid from 
any one what to do with these trees, and no book 
then accessible helped me. I reflected on the natural 
habit of the pear tree, and, coming to the conclusion 
that the cause of barrenness was exuberance of roots, 
I resolved to cut them. Before the leaves had fallen, 
a friend sent me ' The Retired Gardener,' an old book, 
translated from the French. In it I found an account 
of some experiments made in England, which fortified 
me in the resolution T had taken. The first year the 
Summer Bon Chretien ' produced nine fruit. I 
pruned the roots more closely, and this year (1859), 
in spite of the ungenial spring, I saved fifty-nine 
pears. The other tree yielded thirty-six, but of so vile 
a quality that I have re-grafted the tree. A large 
plum, treated in the same way, produced, the season 
after being root-pruned, 2000 fruit." 

It will not, perhaps, be out of place here to enume- 
rate a few of the advantages of systematic root-prun- 
ing and removing or lifting of pear, apple, and plum 

' This is one of our oldest varieties, and remarkable for being a very shy 
bearer 



ROOT-PRUXINCr AND REMOVING. 49 

trG3s, and of growing them as pyramidal trees and 
bushes. 

1st. Their eligibility for small gardens, even the 
smallest. 

2dly. The facility of thinning the blossom-buds, 
and in some varieties, such as Gansel's Bergamot and 
other shy-bearing sorts, of setting the blossoms, and 
of thinning and gathering the fruit. 

3dly. Their making the gardener independent of 
the natural soil of his garden, as a few barrowfuls of 
rich mold and annual manure on the surface will sup- 
port a tree for many, very many years, thus placing bad 
soils nearly on a level with those the most favorable. 

4thly. The capability of removing trees of fifteen 
or twenty years' growth with as much facility as fur- 
niture. To tenants, this will, indeed, be a boon, for 
perhaps one of the greatest annoyances a tenant is 
subject to, is that of being obliged to leave behind him 
trees that he has nurtured with the utmost care. 

My gray hairs tell me that I am not a young gar- 
dener, and yet I feel that in judicious root-pruning 
and annual manuring on the surface, so as to keep our 
fruit trees full of short, well-ripened fruitful shoots, we 
are all inexperienced. At this moment I am remind- 
ed of a wall in a neighboring garden covered with 
peach and nectarine trees in the finest possible health. 

For more than twenty years a healthy peach tree 
was never seen in this garden, as the subsoil is a cold 
white clay, full of chalk-stones. This happy change 
has been brought about by biennially pruning the 
roots of the trees early in autumn, as soon as the fniit 
is gathered ; in some cases lifting the trees and sup- 



£0 THE MINIATURE FBUIT GARDEN. 

plying their roots with a dressing of leaf-mold, sand, 
and rotten manure, equal parts. Powdered charcoal, 
or the ashes of burnt turf and rotten manure, also 
make an excellent root-dressing for cold heavy soils ; 
but if the soil be dry and poor, and unfavorable to 
the peach and nectarine, loam and rotten manure is 
the best dressing for the roots, and also for the surface. 

PLANTING AND AFTER MANAGEMENT. 

Pyramidal pear trees of from three to five years old 
on the quince stock, root-pruned, and full of blossom- 
buds, may now be purchased. Trees of this descrip- 
tion should, if possible, be planted before Christmas ; 
but if the soil be very tenacious, the holes may be 
opened in the autumn, and the trees planted in 
February ; the soil will be mellowed and benefited 
by the frosts of winter.' 

Pear trees grafted on the quince stock offer a curi- 
ous anomaly, for if they are removed quite late in 
spring — say toward the end of March, when their 
blossom-buds are just on the point of bursting — they 
will bear a fine and often an abundant crop of fruit. 
This is sometimes owing to the blossoms being re- 
tarded, and thus escaping the sj^ring frosts ; but it has 
so often occurred here when no frosts have visited us 
that I notice it — in fact, no trees bear late removal so 
well as pears on quince stocks. 

' The roots of pear trees on the quince stock, and, indeed, of all root-pruned 
trees are very fibrous. In planting, it is good practice to give each tree two 
shovelfuls of fine earth or mold rather dry — to place it on the roots and shake the 
tree, so that the mold is well mixed with the mass of fibrous roots. Before the 
soil is all filled in, three or four siallons of water should be poured in, so as to wash 
the earth into every crevice. The roots should not be crammed into a smjiU hole. 
A tree, with its roots IS inches in diameter, will require a hole 2J fuet in diameter, 
and so on in proportion. 



PLANTING AND AFTER MANAGE^IENT. 



51 



In planting pear trees on the qnince stoclc, it is 
quite necessary that the stock should be covered up to 
its junction with the graft. This joining of the graft 
to the stock is generally very evident, even to the 
most ignorant in gardening matters ; it usually as- 
sumes the form as given in Fig. 11 , «. 

If the soil be not excessively wet, 
the tree may be placed in a hole, say 
three feet in diameter and eighteen 
inches deep, in the usual way, so that 
the upper roots are slightly above the 
level of the surface, as the tree will 
always settle down two or three inches 
the first season after planting. Some 
of the light compost recommended in 
page 19 should be filled in, and the 
tree well shaken, so that it is thor- 
oughly mingled with its roots. The 
compost must then be trodden down ; I'l^-^i- 

and so far the planting is finished. The earth should 
then be placed round the stem, and formed into a 
mound, which should cover the stock up to, hut not 
above, the junction of the graft with the stock, in 
order to encourage it to emit roots into the surface 
soil, and to keep it (the stock) from becoming hard 
and " bark-bound." 

To make this emission of roots more certain, the 
stem may be tongued, as usual in layering — i. e., the 
bark must be cut through upward from the root, and 
a slip about one inch in length raised (see Fig. 11, J, 
h, which are the raised pieces of bark) ; and these 
raised pieces of bark must be kept open by inserting 




52 THE MINIATURE FRTJIT GARDEN. 

a piece of broken flower-pot or slate. Several of these 
tongues may be made, and by tlie end of the first 
year after planting every incision will have emitted 
roots ; the stock, owing to its being kept constantly 
moist, will swell and keep pace with the graft, and 
the tree will flourish and remain healthy. As the 
mound will subside by the heavy rains of winter, pre- 
suming that the trees have been planted in autumn, 
fresh compo.-t of the same nature must be added in 
spring, and every succeeding autumn. A quarter of 
a peck of soot, strewed on the surface in a circle three 
feet in diameter round each tree in March, is an ex- 
cellent stimulant. The great object in the culture of 
the pear on the quince stock is to encourage the 
growth of its very fibrous roots at the surface, so that 
they may feel the full influeiK-e of the sun and air. 
Tlie slight mounds recommended may be made orna- 
mental if required, by placing pieces of rock or flint 
on them, which will also prevent the birds scratching 
at them for worms ; but the stones selected must not be 
very large and heavy — they should be about the size 
and weight of a brick. In light friable soils, the 
mounds may be from three to four inches above the sur- 
face of the surrounding soil ; in heavy retentive wet 
soils, from six to eight inches will not be found too 
high. 

In soils of a light dry nature the pear on the quince 
requires careful culture. I therefore recommend the 
surface round the tree to be covered, during June, 
July, and August with short litter, or manure, and to 
give the trees once a week, in dry weather, a drench- 
ing with guano water (about one pound to ten gal- 



PLANTING AND AFTER MANAGEMENT. 53 

Ions), which must be well stirred before it is used. 
Each tree should have ten gallons poured gradually 
into the soil ; by this method the finest fruit may be 
produced ; and as it is very probable that, ere many 
years elapse, we shall have exhibitions of pears, this 
will be the mode to procure tine specimens to show 
for prizes. Our oldest gardening authors have said, 
that "pears ingrafted on the quince stock give the 
fairest fruit ;" and they are correct. It has been as- 
serted that the fruit is liable to be gritty and deficient 
in flavor. I can only say, that from my trees, grow- 
ing on a cold clayey soil, I have tasted fruit of Marie 
Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, and others, all that 
could be wished for in size and flavor. 

In the course of my experience, and since the above 
recommendation to plant on mounds was written, I 
have found it good practice in very dry soils to plant 
pear trees on the quince stock with the junction of 
the graft just level with the surface, so as not to re- 
quire mounds round their stems. The first season they 
should have some manure on the surface, laid in a circle 
round the stem ; and the second year a shallow basin, 
two feet in diameter and four inches deep, should be 
dug round the stem, and tilled with some manure about 
half rotten. This basin thus filled will keep moist 
even in the most dry and hot weather, and will become 
full of fibrous roots. This is also an excellent method 
of renovating pear trees that have exhausted them- 
selves by bearing too abundantly, or that appear un- 
healthy by their leaves turning yellow. In such 
cases, when the trees are of advanced growth, a basin 
of the same depth, but three or more feet in diameter. 



54: THE MIXIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

should be formed and filled with manure : in all 
cases for this purpose this should be but slightly decom- 
posed. 

BUSH PE^VE TREES FOE A MARKET GARDEN. 

There are many fav^orable sunny spots wliich the 
amateur gardener may turn to profit accompanied by 
pleasure, simply by planting bush pear trees grafted 
on the quince stock. Tlie plantation should be a sort 
of nursery, and for this purpose they should be plant- 
ed in rows, three feet row from row, and three feet 
apart in the rows ; a piece of ground planted after 
this method will contain 4,840 trees per imperial acre. 

By pinching every shoot to three leaves all the 
summer, the trees form compact fruitful bushes ; this 
constant summer pinching has a remarkable eft'ect in 
moderating the vigor of fruit trees. Tliey will com- 
mence to bear the second year after planting, and if 
each tree give but ten or twelve fruit, one acre will pro- 
duce a large quantity. They may be suffered to re- 
main at the above distance unroot-pruned, and unre- 
moved for seven, eight, or ten years ; and then, as they 
will nearly or quite touch each other, every alter- 
nate tree should be removed, and another plantation 
formed. The removal of the trees should be done care- 
fully, so that those left will stand four feet and a half 
apart and in quincunx order, thus, ** *. This may be 
done as follows :— Presuming the first row to consist 
of ten trees, begin at the first row by removing the 
1st, 3d, 5th, Tth, and 9tli trees ; in the second row, 
remove the 2d, 4th, 6th, 8th, and K)th ; in the third 
row, again 1st, 3d, 5th, Yth, and 9th trees, and so on 



BUSH PEAR, TREES FOR A MARKET GARDEN. 55 

with all, and through all the rows however long ; at 
this distance thej may remain for fourteen, eighteen, 
or twenty years. At the end of one of these periods, 
every alternate row of trees must be removed, leav- 
ing the permanent trees six feet apart : the periods of 
removal must, to a certain extent, depend upon the 
nature of the soil ; if this be of high fertility, the re- 
moval of the trees must be commenced at the earlier 
period. It may sound strangely to the routine gar- 
dener to advise the removal of fruit trees when twenty 
years old ; but I say this advisedly, for the trees in a 
plantation of Louise Bonne pears on the quince stock, 
planted here twenty years since, in rows five feet 
aparf , were recently removed and have succeeded well, 
commencing to bear fine crops the second season after 
being transplanted. Wheii pyramidal trees from ten to 
tv/euty years old are removed, their branches should 
all be shortened to at least one-half their length. 
Although these trees were planted only five feet apart 
and have grown well, they did not — and those left un- 
removed do not — touch eacli other ; this is, of course, 
owing to their young shoots having been pinched in 
every summer for so many seasons. 

From closely observing these trees for many years, 
and even to-day (July 20th, 1864), upon measuring 
the shoots of the unremoved trees, and finding they do 
not meet by at least fifteen inches, I have based the 
idea conveyed by the heading of these paragraphs, 
]». 54, It may be asked, why not plant pyramids, 
\v]iieh are handsome and productive ? Experience 
fiirnislies me with a reply : When my 2,000 pyramids 
of 1-iOuise Bonne pears commenced to bear their large 



56 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

crops of fruit, I found so many displaced by the wind 
that supporting t]iem with stakes became expensive 
and troublesome; I therefore recommend all those, 
who wish to make their pear-tree plantations profita- 
ble as well as pleasurable, to plant bush trees.' In 
sheltered gardens the amateur may without hesitation 
continue to plant pyramids, for no description of fruit 
tree can be more interesting ; but when profit is to be 
attached to cultivation, and fruit trees cultivated by 
the acre, the l)ush form must be adhered to. The 
varieties best adapted to this mode of culture are, first 
and best, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Fondante d'Au- 
tomne, Beurre d'Aremberg, Beurre Superfin,Williams's 
Bon Chretien, Beurre Bachelier, Winter Nelis, and 
Bergamotte d'Esperen. If more robust growing sorts 
are planted, such as Beurre Diel, Beurre d'Amanlis, 
Beurre Hardy, and some others, the plantation should 
be commenced with rows four feet apart, and the 
trees four feet apart in the rows. The ground occu- 
pied by the plantation should be stirred with the 
Parkes' steel fork every season, in February or ]\Iarch, 
but not deeper than from four to five inches, and the 
weeds carefully turned down. In the summer the 
weeds must be kept under by hoeing, which will keep 
the surface loose and promote the health of the trees ; 
without this stirring with the fork in early spring, the 
soil would become too hard during the summer for 
hoeing with facility. 

GATHERING THE FRUIT. 

I The fruit of pears, more particularly those on 

1 These may be witli advaiitii^'o a sort of hybrid bush troe, partaking a little of 
tlie pyiMniid, and allowed to grow to a height of four or five feet. 



GATHERING THH FRUIT, 57 

quince stocks, should not be suffered to ripen on the 
tree ; the summer and autumn varieties should be 
gathered before they are quite ripe, and left to ripen 
in the fruit room/ The late pears should be gather- 
ed before the leaves take their autumnal tints ; if suf- 
fered to remain too long on the trees, they frequently 
never ripen, but continue hard till they rot. In most 
seasons, the first and second week in October is a 
good time ; but much depends on soil and climate. 
The following passage from that very excellent work, 
Downing's " Fruit Trees of America," is appropriate 
to this subject : — 

" The pear is a peculiar fruit in one respect, which 
should always be kept in mind — \az., that most varie- 
ties are much finer in flavor if jyicked from the tree, 
and ripened in the house, than if allowed to become 
fully matured on the tree. There are a few excep- 
tions to this rule, but they are very few. And, on 
the other hand, we know a great many varieties 
which are only second or third rate when ripened on 
the tree, but possess the highest and richest flavor if 
gathered at the proper time, and allowed to mature 
in the house. This proper season is easily known, 
first by the ripening of a few full-grown but worm- 
eaten specimens, which fall soonest from the tree ; 
and, secondly, by the change of color, and the readi- 
ness of the stalk to part from its branch on gently 
raising the fruit. The fruit should then be gathered 
— or so much of the crop as appears sutficiently ma- 
tured — and spread out on shelves in the fruit-room, 

' l'e;irs that ripen in September and October should not be gathered all at one 
li.iie, but at intervals of a week or so, making, say, throe gatherings; their season 
ii •lUus much prolonged. 



58 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

or upon the floor of the garret. Here it will gradual- 
ly assume its full color and become deliciously melt- 
ing and luscious. Many sorts, which, if suffered to 
ripen in the sun and open air, are rather dry, when 
ripened within doors, are most al^undantly melting 
and juicy. They will also last for a considerably 
longer period if ripened in this way, maturing grad- 
ually as wanted for use, and being thus beyond the 
risk of loss or injury by violent storms or high winds. 

" Winter dessert pears should be allowed to hang 
on the tree as long as possible, till the nights become 
frosty.' They should then be wrapped separately in 
paper, packed in I'egs^ hdrtuls, or small hoxes, and 
placed in a cool, dry room, free from frost. Some 
varieties, as the Beurre d'Aremberg, will ripen finely 
with no other care than placing them in barrels in 
the cellar, like apples. But most kinds of the finer 
winter dessert pears should be brought into a warm 
apartment for a couple of weeks before their usual 
season of maturity. They should be kept covered, to 
prevent shrivelling. Many sorts, that are compara- 
tively tough if ripened in a cold apartment, become 
very melting, buttery, and juicy, when allowed to 
mature in a room kept at the temperature of 60 or TO 
degrees." 

The following is from Mr. Glasses " Gardening 
Book," as given in the Gardeners Chronicle : — 

now TO STORE WINTER PEARS IN SMALL QUANTITIES. 

" Get some unglazed jars — garden pots will do ; 

' I feel compelled to (litter from Mr. D. in this respect; for in the autumn of 
1?55 I suffered many pears to hang on the trees till the end of October, and they 
never ripened. I believe the first week lu October to be the best period to gather 
winter pears in. 



KEEPING PEARS IN A GREENHOUSE. 59 

]T\r>\-e them perfectly clean, if they have ever been 
lised'. The best way is to half burn or bake tliem 
over again. 

"■ Gather your pears very carefully, so as not to rnb 
ori the bloom or break the stalk. On no account 
knock them about so as to bruise them. Put them 
on a dry sweet shelf, to sweat. When the sweating 
is over, rub them dry with a soft cloth, as tenderly as 
if you were dry-rubbing a baby. 

" As soon as they are quite dry, put them, one over 
the other, into the jars or garden pots, without any 
sort of packing ; close up the mouth of the jar loosely, 
or of the garden-pot, by whelming the pan or placing 
a piece of slate over it, and stow them away in a dark- 
ish closet where they cannot get the frost. 

" Open the jars now and then, to see how they are 
getting on, 

" Do not put more than one sort in the same jar, if 
you can help it. Mind — the warmer they are kept, 
the faster they will ripen." 

KEEPING PEARS m A GREENHOUSE. 

I have but very recently found that pears may be 
kept in a greenhouse, in great perfection, all the 
winter. 

The greenhouse in which my experiment has been 
tried is a lean-to house with a S. W. aspect, twelve feet 
wide, with a path in the centre, a bench in front, of 
common slates laid on wooden bars, and a stage at 
back, full of camellias. My pears have been laid on 
tlie front bench, the glass over them shaded till the 
end of November, the house ventilated, and the 



CO THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

camellias watered just as if the pears were not 
there. In severe frosts, the temperature was kept 
just above freezing. The autumn pears under this 
treatment ripened slowly, and were of excellent 
flavor. The late pears kept till April ; but then, 
owing to the power of the sun, the air of the house 
became too warm and dry, and they shrivelled. I 
should therefore recommend winter pears to be kept 
in the greenhouse in covered pots or jars (I now use 
large clean flower-pots with wooden covers), placing 
them in early in December, 

Mr. Tillery, of the Wellbeck Gardens, keeps his 
choice pears and apples in boxes of bran with great 
success. The bran, before it is used, should be 
thoroughly dried and sifted, so as to take from it all 
the small particles of meal. With this treatment 
pears and apples may be placed in it as soon as they 
are gathered. The boxes should be quite shallow, so 
as to admit of only one layer of fruit, which should 
be covered with the bran, and no lids placed on the 
boxes. The bran is apt to become musty. 

PYR^VanDAL APPLE TKEES ON THE PARADISE APPLE 
STOCK. 

Apples as pyramids on the Paradise stock are ob- 
jects of great beauty and utility. This stock, like the 
quince, is remarkable for its tendency to emit numerous 
fibrous roots near the surface, and for contracting the 
growth of the graft, causing it to become fruitful at a 
very early stage. On the Continent there are two 
varieties of the apple under this denomination — viz., 
the Doucin and the Pomme de Paradis; these are 



PYRAMIDAL APPLE TREES. 61 

called Paradise stocks in England, but on the Conti- 
nent the first and last are used for distinct purposes — 
the first for pyramids, the latter for dwarf bushes. 

The Doucin stock is, I am inclined to think, the 
same as that called '' Dutch Creeper," or " Dutch 
Paradise," by Miller, in his Dictionary, folio edition 
of 1759. It puts forth abundance of fibrous roots 
near the surface of the soil, and is not inclined to root 
deeply into it like the crab. Apples grafted on this 
stock are more vigorous than when grafted on the 
true Paradise stock, and less so than those on the 
crab ; it is, therefore, well adapted for garden trees, 
for they are easily lifted, their roots thus kept to the 
surface, and the tree consequently kept free from 
canker. There is another surface-rooting apple, also 
well adapted for stocks — the Burr Knot. This, like 
the Doucin, will strike root, if stout cuttings, two or 
three years old, are planted two-thirds of their length 
in a moist soil : it is a large, handsome, and very good 
culinary apple. At Ware Park, in Hertfordshire, 
this is called Byde's Walking-stick Apple, owing to 
Mr. Byde, the former proprietor of the place, often 
planting branches with his own hand, which soon 
formed nice bearing trees. 

Among apples raised from seed, some will occa- 
sionally be found with this surface-rooting nature ; and 
this is, I suspect, the reason why the Doucin stock, 
under the name of the Paradise, common in the Eng 
lish nurseries, difiers from the sorts used as Doucins in 
France : there are also two or three varieties culti 
vated there. 

About forty years since, I raised a large number of 



62 THE MTNlATUi!E FRUIT GARDEN. 

apples from tlie pips of the Golden Pippin, Golden 
Reinette, Ribston Pipjjin, and other esteemed sorts. 
These, in course of time, all bore fruit, but, as not one 
was found superior to its parent, I did not cultivate 
tbem. Why I mention this is, that among my seed- 
lings were several that put out roots near the surface, 
and the cuttings of which struck root. It is only 
within these few years that I have had my attention 
drawn to two of these, one of which has very broad 
leaves, and a most liealthy and vigorous habit ; the 
other, a habit equally vigorous, but with a great tend- 
ency to form fruit-spurs. The former I have named 
the Broad-leaved Paradise, the latter, the Nonesuch 
Paradise ; they are likely to form a revolution in ap- 
ple culture, as the varieties of apples grafted on them 
form such healthy and fruitful trees. 

The Porame de Paradis seems identical with the 
'" dwarf apple of Armenia," referred to in the " Jour- 
nal of the Horticultural Society," Part 2, Vol. 3, 
page 115. It is exceedingly dwarf in its habit, and 
too tender for this climate, unless in very warm and 
dry soils. Out of 2,000 imported in ISIS, more than 
half died the first season, and two-thirds of the re- 
mainder the following. They were planted in tine 
fertile loam, favorable to the growth of apples, and on 
which the Doucin, planted the same season, grew 
with the greatest vigor. The same result attended 
an importation of 2,000 in 1846. I have now potted 
some plants, and ov\^ing, as I suppose, to the roots 
being warmed through the pots by exposure to the 
Bun, they seem inclined to make very nice little fruit- 
ful buslies — in fact, real miniature apple trees, bearing 



PYRAMIDAL APPLE TREES. 03 

fruit when only nine inches in height. My trees are 
in eight-inch pots ; but, to have healthy fertile trees, 
I should recommend them to be gradually shifted 
into fifteen-inch pots. . The citizen may thus have his 
apple orchard on the leads of his house. 

The English Paradise stock, much like the Doucin, 
and those above-mentioned as my seedKngs, are most 
deserving of our attention as stocks for forming fruit- 
ful pyramids, the culture of which is very simple. 
Grafted trees of one, two, or three years' growth, with 
straight leading stems, well furnished with buds and 
branches to the junction with the stock, should be 
planted. No manure should l)e placed to their roots, 
but some light friable mould should be shaken into 
them, the earth filled in, trodden down, and two or 
three shovelfuls of half-rotted manure laid on the sur- 
face round each tree. This surface-dressing may be 
given with advantage every succeeding autumn. If 
the soil be very wet and retentive, it will be better to 
plant the trees in small mounds ; and if symptoms of 
canker make their appearance, their roots should be 
examined annually in the autumn, as recommended 
in root-pruning of pears on the quince stock, introdu- 
cing the spade directly under the roots, so as to pre- 
vent any entering deeply into the soil, and bringing 
all as nearly to the surface as possible, filling in the 
trench with light friable compost ; or the tree may be 
lifted and replanted, which will be found more effi- 
cient. I firmly believe that canker mnj be entirely 
prevented by this annual attention to the roots. 

If, therefore, the soil be unfavorable, and apt to in- 
duce a too vigorous growth in apple trees, followed by 
4 



64 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN". 

canker, the roots should be annually root-pruned, or 
the trees lifted — i. e.^ taken up and replanted. If, 
however, the trees make shoots of only moderate vig- 
or, and are healthy and fruitful, their roots may remain 
undisturbed ; and pinching their shoots in summer, as 
directed for pyramidal pears, page 9, and training 
them in a proper direction, is all that they will want. 
Pyramids on the Paradise stock may be planted four 
feet apart in confined gardens ; five feet will give them 
abundance of room ; but if, owing to the soil being of 
extra fertility, they are found to require more, the 
trees, if they have been root-pruned, may be removed 
almost without receiving a check, even if they are 
twenty years old. This is a great comfort to the ama- 
teur gardener, who amuses himself with improving 
his garden ; for how often does a favorite fruit tree, 
which cannot be removed, prevent some projected im- 
provement ! 

Apples differ greatly in their habits of growth ; 
some are inclined to grow close and compact, like a 
cypress — these are the proper sorts for pyramids ; 
others, horizontally and crooked — these should be 
grown as bushes ; others, again, are slender and thin 
in their growth, so that, to form a good pyramid of 
these slender-growing varieties, it is necessary to be- 
gin the first year with a young tree, and to pinch the 
leader as soon as it is six inches long. If by any neg- 
lect the lower part of the pyramid be not furnished 
with shoots, but have dormant buds, or buds with 
only two or three leaves attached, a notch must be cut, 
about half an inch in width, just above the bud from 
which a shoot is required. This notch must be cut 



PYRAMIDAL APPLE TREES. 05 

through the outer and inner bark, and alburnum, or 
first lajer of wood ; and if the shoot or stem be younpj 
— say from two to four inches in girth — it may be cut 
round half its circumference. If this be done in spring 
or summer, the following season a shoot will generally 
make its appearance ; sometimes even the first season, 
if the stem or branch be notched early in spring. This 
method of producing shoots from dormant buds may 
be applied with advantage to all kinds of fruit trees, 
except the peach and nectarine, which are not often 
inclined to break from a dormant bud. 

Varieties of apples inclined to be compact and close 
in their growth form very handsome pyramids ; but 
they are apt to be unfruitful, as air enough is not ad- 
mitted to the interior of the tree. This may be easily 
avoided, by bringing the lateral shoots down to a hori- 
zontal position for a year or two, and fastening the 
end of each shoot to a stake ; an open pyramidal shape 
will thus be attained, which the tree will keep. Other 
varieties put forth their laterals horizontally, and some 
are even pendulous. The leading perpendicular shoot 
of varieties of this description must be supported by a 
stake till the tree is of mature age. Iron rods, about 
the size of small curtain-rods, are the most eligible : 
these, if painted with coal-tar and lime, sifted and 
mixed with it to the consistence of very thick paint, 
put on boiling hot, will last a great many years. 

Apple trees in confined gardens near large towns 
are often infested with " American blight," ap?ds 
lanigera : this makes its appearance on the trees gen- 
erally towards the middle of summer, like patches of 
cotton wool. There are many remedies given for 



6G THE mNIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

this pest ; the most efficacious I have yet found is soft 
soap dissolved in soft water, two pounds to the gallon, 
or the Gishurst Compound, sold by Price's Candle 
Company, one pound to the gallon, and applied v.ith 
an old painter's -brush. Many remedies, such as train 
oil, spirits of tar, &c., are apt to injure the trees: it 
must be recollected that soft soap will turn the leaves 
brown — in fact, kill them ; but it need not be applied 
to them, as the aphis generally fixes itself on the 
branches. 

Here let me impress upon the lover of his garden, liv- 
ing anywhere within reach of smoke, the necessity of 
using the syringe : its efficacy is not lialf appreciated 
by gardening amateurs. As soon as the leaves of his 
fi'uit trees are fully expanded, every morning and 
every evening, in dry weather, should the attentive 
gardener dash on the M'ater with an unsparing hand — 
not with a plaything, but with the perforated common 
syringe, such as a practical gardener would use, capa- 
ble of pouring a sharp stream on the phmt, and of 
dislodging all the dust or soot that may have accumu- 
lated in twelve hours. For apple and pear trees in 
pots, or in small city gardens, this syringing is abso- 
lutely necessary. 

Pinching the shoots of pyramidal apple trees, and, 
indeed, exactly the same method of managing the trees 
as given for pyramidal pears on the quince stock, may 
be followed with a certainty of success; arid the ]>ro- 
prietor of a very small garden may thus raise apple 
trees which will be sure to give him much gratiiica- 
tion. To have fine fruit, the clusters should be thinned 
in June ; and small trees should not be overburdened, 



APPLES AS BUSHES OX THE PARADISE STOCK. 67 



for they are often inclined, like young pear trees on 
the quince stock, to bear too many fruit when in a 
very young state ; the constitution of the tree then 
receives a shock which it will take two or three sea- 
sons to recover. For varieties with large fruit, one 
on each fruit-bearing spur will be enough ; if a small 
sort, from two to three will be sufRcient. 

There are so many really good apples that it is dif- 
ficult to make a selection : the following sorts will not 
disappoint the planter ; but fifty varieties in addition, 
quite equal in quality, could be selected. 

Twenty dessert apples, ripening from July to June, 



placed in the order of their ripening : — 

11. Manninston's Pearmain 

12. Golden Drop (Coe's)* 

13. Ashmead's Kernel* 

14. Nonpareil, Old 

15. Reinette Van Mona* 

16. Syke House Kusset 

17. Keddlestou Pippin 

18. Golden Harvey 

19. 'Winter Peach Apple 

20. Sturmer Pippin* 



1. White Joanneting* 

2. Early Red Margaret 
8. Red Astrachan 

4. Early Strawberry 

5. Irish Peach* 

6. Summer Golden Pippin 

7. Kerry Pippin* 

8. Margil 

9. Ribston Pippin* 

10. Cox's Orange Pippin* 



Twenty kitchen apples, 
June : — 

1. Keswick Codlin* 

2. Large Yellow Bough 
8. Hawthornden* 

4. Cellini 

5. King of the Pippins 

6. Blenheim Pippin* 

7. Calville Blanche 

8. New Hawthornden 

9. striped Beefing* 

10. AValtham Abbey Seedling 



fit for use from July to 



11. Herefordshire Pearmain* 

12. Winter Pearmain 

13. Bedfordshire Foundling* 

14. Greaves's Pi[ipin 

15. Dumelow'3 Seedling* 

16. Forge Apple 

17. Rymer 

18. Baxter's Pearmain* 

19. St, Sauveur* 

20. Gooseberry Apple* 



APPLES AS BUSHES ON THE PARADISE STOCK. 

There are some varieties of apples that do not form, 
even with care, well-shaped pyramids ; such sorts may 
be cultivated as bushes when grafted on the Paradise 



(^S THE MIXIATUrwE FRUIT GAROEN. 

stock, and are then excellently well adapted for small 
gardens. I have, indeed, reason to think that a great 
change may be brought about in suburban fruit cul- 
ture by these bush trees. I have shown, in pp. IT 
and 18, how bush pears on quince stocks may be cul- 
tivated. Pears are, however, a luxury : apples and 
plums are necessaries to the families of countless 
thousands living near London. Apple bushes, always 
very pretty and productive trees, may be planted 
three feet apart, row from row, and three feet apart 
in the rows. If two or three years old when planted, 
they will begin to bear even the first season after 
planting. They should be kept from the attacks of 
the green aphis in summer by dressing the young 
shoots with the quassia mixture, given in a note to p. 
89, and from the woolly aphis by Gishurst compound 
mentioned in page 06. The principal feature in this 
culture is summer pinching, which nnist be regularly 
attended to, from early in June till the end of August : 
this is done by pinching or cutting olf the end of 
every shoot as soon as it has made five or six leaves, 
leaving from three to four full-shed ones. Some 
varieties of the apple have their leaves very thickly 
placed on the shoots ; with them it is better not to 
count the leaves, but to leave the shoots from three 
and a half to four inches in length. If the soil be 
rich, and the trees inclined to grow too vigorously, 
they may be removed biennially, as recommended for 
bush pears, by digging a circular trench one foot from 
the stem of the tree, and then introducing the spade 
under its roots, heaving it up so as to detach them all 
from the soil, and then filling in the earth dug from 



APPLES AS BUSHES FOR MARKET GARDENS. 69 

the trencli and treading it gently on to the roots. 
The following sorts are well adapted for this bush 
culture, but the upright varieties recommended for 
pyramids form nice compact bushes.' 

Brabant Bellefleur, kitchen April 

Cornish Aromatic, dessert May 

Early Harvest, dessert August 

Emperor Alexander, kitchen October 

Gravenstein, kitchen or dessert November 

Hawthornden, kitchen i August to 

I November 

Joanneting (white), dessert July 

Melon Apple, dessert February 

Mere de Menage, kitchen December 

Nonesuch, kitchen October 

Pomme lioyale, kitchen or dessert April 

Rcinette du Oajiada, kitchen or dessert May 

llibstfin Pippin,'desserL December 

Siiuth CaroHna Pippin, kitchen December 

Spring Ribston Pippin, dessert. May 

Victoria, dessert April 

Walthara Abbey Seedling, kitchen December 

There is no mode of apple culture more interesting 
than bush culture. On the next page I annex a 
sketch of a plantation of Cox's Orange Pippin (Fig. 
12), of one hundred trees; they were planted in the 
spring of 1862. They bore a fine crop in 1863 of 
most beautiful fruit, and in 1864: gave a crop almost 
too abundant. 

APPLES AS BUSHES FOR MARKET GARDENS. 

Our market gardeners, as a rule, are very deficient 
in their knowledge of fruit-tree culture, and they have 
much to learn. The usual practice with them is to 
plant standard or half standard trees in rows, some 
twenty or thirty feet apart, and between them goose- 

' These dwarf bushes are liable to be gnawed by rabbits and hares in exposed 
gardens. The best of all preventives is to paint them with soot and milk, well 
mixed ; or make a fence with galvanized wire netting, round the garden ia which 
they are planted. 



70 



THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



beny and currant trees. The ground is dug between 
tlie trees in spring deeply, and often carelessly, J^o- 
thing can be more barbarous, for the ground is so 







shaded that no surface roots can have the benefit of 
air and the heat of the sun ; and if by any chance 
they could come to the surface, they are, as a matter 
of com'se, destroyed by the spade. It is true that in 



APPLES AS BUSHES FOR MARKET GARDENS. 71 

some of the rich market gardens near London large 
quantities of fruit are grown in spite of the uncouth 
treatment the trees receive, but this does not alter tlie 
case. 

In a well-ordered fruit garden, every kind of fruit 
should have its department, and instead of seeing, as 
in Kent, a row of trees of all sorts, mixed in the most 
heterogeneous manner, no mixture of species should 
be allowed ; every kind should have its allotment — 
apples on the Paradise stock, ditto on the crab stock, 
pears on the quince stock, the same on the pear stock. 
Morello cherries as pyramids on the Mahaleb stock — 
the best of all methods for their culture — and the 
various kinds of Duke cherries on the same kind of 
stock. Heart and Bigarreau cherries on the common 
cherry stock, plums as bushes, pyramids, or half stand- 
ards, should all be separated, and not planted hig- 
gledy-piggledy, as they have been and are now. The 
sound-headed market gardener will, when his mind is 
turned to improved fruit-tree culture, see all this, and 
make his fruit garden a pattern of order. 

I have been led into these remarks on market gar- 
den fruit-tree culture by my own experience, and es- 
pecially into a consideration of the great improvement 
that may be made in the culture of apples on the 
English Paradise stock. On referring to p. 69, the 
reader will find that I allude to my plantation of 
Cox's Orange Pippin apple trees on the Paradise 
stock (see Fig. 12) ; these trees will this season (1864), 
the third of their growth in their present quarters, 
and the fourth of their age, give an average of a 

quarter of a peck from each tree, so that we might 
4* 



72 THE MINIATURE FRUIT • GARDEN. 

have from 4,840 trees, growing on one acre of ground, 
302 bushels of fine apples, worth 5s, per bushel, or 
£75. In 1866, the trees then averagiiig half-a-peck 
each, would double this sum, and make an acre of 
apple trees a very agreeable and eligible investment. 
The kinds likely to sell best in the markets, and 
which are most productive, are the following : — Cox's 
Orange Pippin, Reinette Yan Mons, Ribston Pippin, 
Sturmer Pippin, Scarlet Nonpareil, and Dutch Mi- 
gnonne ; these are dessert apples. The following are 
valuable kitchen apples, and abundant bearers : — 
Hawthornden, New Hawthornden, Sinall's Admi- 
rable, Cox's Pomona, Keswick Codlin, Dumelow's 
Seedling, Lord Suffield, Norfolk Bearer, Duchess of 
Oldenburg, and Forge Apple. Such large varieties 
as Bedfordshire Foundling, Blenheim Orange, and 
Warner's King, should have more space, and be 
planted four feet apart, and be thinned out by remo- 
val, as recommended for pear trees, three feet apart, 
for which see p. 54. The proper method of planting 
and managing these bush apple trees is exactly that 
recommended for bush pear trees on quince stocks. 

It may be by some made a question of expense, for 
although the return must be large and profitable, the 
purchase of nearly 5,000 apple trees would involve a 
large outlay. To this I reply — first, that stocks cost- 
ing only a small sum per 1,000 may be planted and 
grafted where the trees are to grow permanently ; 
and, second, that a large demand which my method 
of planting would create will also create a cheap sup- 
ply. The preparation of an acre of ground should be 
as follows : — It should previous to planting, be forked 



APPLES AS BUSHES FOR MARKET GARDENS. 73 

over to a depth of twenty inches (if very poor and ex- 
hausted, from thirty to forty tons of manure may be 
forked in) — not more, as trees such as I have recom- 
mended, viz., pears on the quince stock and apples on 
the English Paradise stock, do not root deeply — this 
ought to cost £6 13s. 4d. The annual expenses are 
forking the sm-face in spring, £1 6s. 8d., and hoeing 
the ground, say four times during the summer, £1 4s. 
I give the amounts paid here for such work. Then 
comes the summer pinching of the shoots by a light- 
fingered active youth, and this may, at a guess, be put 
down at £1, making the aggregate annual expenses 
£3 10s. 8d., or, say £4 per acre. The large return 
will amply afford this outlay, even adding, as we 
ought to do, the interest on capital, and rent. 

It will be seen that what I propose is in reality a 
I^Tursery Orchard which may be made to furnish fruit 
and trees for a considerable number of years. To 
fully comprehend this, we must suppose a rood of 
ground planted, as I have described, with 1,210 bush 
apple trees. In the course of eight or ten years, half 
of these, or 605, may be removed to a fresh planta- 
tion, in which they may be planted 6 feet apart ; they 
will at once occupy half an acre of ground. At the 
end of sixteen or eighteen years, every alternate row 
of trees in the first plantation — the rood — will require 
to be removed, which will give 302 trees to be 
planted, 6 feet apart, leaving 303 in the original 
rood. The 1,210 trees will, by this time, occupy one 
acre of ground at 6 feet apart. With proper summer 
pruning or pinching, they will not require any further 
change, but continue to grow and bear fruit as long 



7i THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

as they are properly cultivated. The great advantage 
reaped by the planter is the constant productiveness 
of his trees; from the second year after planting they 
will be always " paying their way." 

The unprejudiced fruit cultivator will quickly find 
out the great advantage of my mode of apple and 
pear cultivation. 

In the usual old-fashioned mode, Standard apple 
trees are planted in orchards at 20 feet apart, or 108 
trees to the acre ; if the soil be good and the trees 
properly planted, and the planter a healthy, middle- 
aged man, he may hope, at the end of his threescore 
and ten, to see his trees commencing to bear, and may 
die with the reflection that he has left a valuable 
orchard as a legacy to his children, but has not had 
much enjoyment of it during his life. Now, although, 
like most fathers, I have a strong wish to benefit my 
children, I hold the idea that one ought also to think 
of one's own gratification ; and so I have planted, and 
recommend the planting of such as will give me some 
satisfaction, yet leave a fertile legacy to my chil- 
d ren. 

A French pomologist, who paid me a visit last 
year, said, " Ah ! now I find an Englishman planting 
for himself as well as for his children :" and went on 
to say that he was struck by seeing in England so 
many Standard trees in market gardens, the planters 
of which could have derived but small benefit from 
them ; and the apparent ignorance of fruit gardening 
as a lucrative occupation. This he, in fact, imputed 
to our climate, which. Frenchman-like, he thought 
totally unfit for fruit culture in the open air, yet felt 



APPLES AS SINGLE LATERAL CORDONS. 75 

much surprised to see here the produce of a well-cul- 
livuted English fruit garden, in a climate not nearly 
fio favorable as the valley of the Thames. 

I have only to add that, besides my plantation of 
("ox's Orange Pippin, I have another of upwards of 
400 trees, Vvdiich has now been in existence upwards 
of ten years, so that I am not theorizing, but dedu- 
cing facts from a sound basis. 

APPLES AS SINGLE LATERAL COKDONS. 

The French gardeners often train an apple tree " en 
cordon horizontale," as an edging to the borders in 
their kitchen gardens, after the following mode : — A 




Fig. 13. 

tree grafted on the Paradise or Doucin stock, with a 
single shoot, is planted in a sloping position, and the 
shoot trained along a wire, about ten or twelve inches 
from the surface. (Fig. 13.) 

To carry out this method of training, oak posts, 
about three inches in diameter and two feet in length, 
should be sharpened at one end and driven into the 
ground, so that they stand one foot above the surface ; 
they may be from thirty to forty yards distant from 
each other. 

From these a piece of galvanized or common iron 
wire — if the latter, it should be painted — about the 
thickness of whipcord, should be strained, and sup- 
ported nine inches from the ground, at intervals of six 



76 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

feet, by iron pins eighteen inches long, the size of a 
small curtain-rod, or smaller, flattened at the top and 
pierced with a hole, to allow the wire to pass through ; 
these should be stuck into the ground, so as to stand 
on a level with the straining-posts. Tlie trees should 
be planted six feet apart, and when the top of one tree 
reaches to another the young shoot may be grafted on to 
the base of the next, so as to form a continuous cordon. 
This is best done by merely taking ofl' a slip of bark, 
two inches long, from the under part of the young shoot, 
and a corresponding piece of bark from the upper part 
of the stem of the tree to which it is to be united, so 
that they fit tolerably well. They should then be 
firmly bound with bast, and a bunch of moss — a 
handful — as firmly bound over the union ; the binding 
as well as the moss may remain on till the autumn. 
The trees do not grow so rapidly as connnon grafts, 
so that the ligatures will not cut into the bark. 

Every side shoot of these cordons should be rigor- 
ously pinched into three leaves all the summer, and 
the fruit, from being near the earth, and thus profit- 
ing largely by radiation, will be very fine. 

The double lateral cordon, see Fig. 14, which is a 
great improvement on the French single cordon, 
requires the same training, pinching-in, and manage- 
ment. 

The great change in fruit culture that may be 
brought about by training these double lateral cordons 
under glass ridges is obvious enough. The figure (15) 
will give some faint idea of the advantages of this new 
system of culture — they are endless ; for not only can 
peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, apples, and pears 



APPLES AS DOUBLE LATERAL CORDONS. 



T7 



be rescued from spring frosts, but their fruit be ripen- 
ed in great perfection. There is no doubt but that 
in some of our cold and cloudy places 
in the north of England and Scotland? 
where even the Ribston Pippin will 
not ripen, it may be brought to perfec- 
tion under the glass fruit ridge. 

The figure (Fig. 15) gives but one 
tree trained to one wnre ; two rows of 
wire may, however, be trained under 
one ridge, which should be three feet 
wide at base, and the wires ten inches 
asunder. It is quite possible that this 
method of training to galvanized wires 
may, in some situations, be better 
adapted to vine culture than allowing 
the vines to rest on slates or tiles. 

I now, by permission, copy the de- 
scription of my new glass fruit ridge 
from my article in the Garderur-^s 
Chronicle for April 8, 1865, from which 
I have also derived the plate kindly 
lent to me : — 

" There are no cross-bars, but merely 
a frame three feet wide at the base. 
On the top bar, a, is a groove half 
an inch deep ; in the bottom bar, 5, is a groove a 
quarter of an inch deep ;' in the end bars, c and d, are 
grooves half an inch deep. The pieces of glass, which 
should be cut so as to fit, are pushed into the upper 
groove, and let fall into the lower one when all are 

' An improvement on this Is to have a rebate at bottom Instead of a groove ; the 
glass ia more easily fitted in. 



THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



'r>i 



fitted in ; the two end pieces are puslied inwards, so 
as to drive all of tlieni into close 
contact. A little putty is required 
at the bottom to prevent water 
lodging, and some at each end to 
keep the pieces from moving lat- 
erally, (',(', are the straining-posts 
of oak, four inches square ; /', the 
upright pieces of wire stuck in the 
ground, flattened and perforated 
at top to i)a8s the wire through and 
support it; </, the wire." 
_ ' ^ Such, then, is the description of 
=?^' the new barless fruit ridge — the 
V" invention of my son — which I 
tliink calculated to have a greater 
^ effect on domestic gardening, and 
i contri])ute more to the refinement 
^ and comfort of a very large class 
of people, than all the crystal pal- 
aces ever invented. I feel that I 
^ ought to add how and where these 
^ nice thiup-s are to be bouo;ht. 
^ Mr. James Rivett, builder, of 
^ Stratford, Essex, makes and sells 
^ them at 5s. Gd. or 6s. each, un- 
^ glazed. Those who would wish 
^ to have a large number, and who 
I live at a long distance from Lon- 
I d'iii, should have a few from Mr. 
Fig. 15. Rivett as samjjles ; they could then 

e imitated by any good laborer. 



VERTICAL CORDON APPLE TREES. 79 

For ventilation and other particulars, I refer my 
readers to the description of the ground vinery, pp. 
121 to 127 ; and for the method of placing the wires, 
to p. 75. 

I must caution those who wish to grow fruit under 
glass fruit ridges, in small confined gardens, to be care- 
ful as to ventilation. A single row of bricks, with 
interstices of four inches, will not be enough ; there 
sliould be two rows of bricks, one over the other, and 
consequently two rows of interstices. Peach, necta- 
rine, and apricot trees should be planted fourteen feet 
apart ; but they grow rapidly, and would probably 
soon require removing. 

It will thus be seen that to commence fruit ridge cul- 
ture, four seven-feet lengths should be prepared, and in 
the centre of the twenty -eight feet occupied by the ridge 
two peach or nectarine trees may be planted. They 
will soon form lateral cordons of great fertility, and 
give constant employment in pinching to the amateur. 
I must not omit to state the great advantage this mode 
of fruit culture gives as to protection from spring frosts 
when the trees are in bloom, or when the fruit is young. 
Espaliers, pyramids, and wall trees are difficult to pro- 
tect, but mats two or three thick can be piled on the 
ridge with great facility, and loose straw or hay, the 
best protectors possible from frost, can be strewed over 
them thickly. 

VERTICAL CORDON APPLE TREES. 

In pp. 42 and 43 will be found the method of train- 
itig vertical cordon pear trees. This may be applied 
to apples on the English Paradise stock with great 



80 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

success, and very charming fruitful trees they make. 
They should not be allowed to grow above seven feet 
in height, to which they will reach in the course of 
four or five years. I annex a figure of one of these 
trees, three years old, and full of fruit. (Fig. 16.) 

PYRAMIDAL APPLES ON THE CRAB STOCK. 

In soils light and poor, the apple on the Paradise 
stock is, unless carefully manured on the surface, apt 
to become stunted and unhealthy. In 
such soils, and also in those of a ve7'y 
tenacious nature, pyramids on the crab 
stock may be planted with great ad- 
vantage. They are also well adapted 
for large gardens where large quanti- 
ties of fruit are required, as the trees 
may be made to form handsome pyra- 
mids, from twelve to fifteen feet in 
height. 

There is one thing most essential to 
their full success as pyramids — they 
must either be lifted or taken up bien- 
nially early in November, and replanted 
in the manner recommended for bush 
pear trees, or root-pruned biennially, 
operating upon the trees alternately, as 
mentioned in note to p. 12 ; or the fol- 
lowing system may be adopted : neither 
remove nor root-prune any tree that continues to grow 
with moderation, does not canker, and bears well ; 
but any tree that makes shoots from eighteen inches 
to three feet in length, remove once in two, three, or 
four years, till its vigorous habit is reduced. 




PYRAMIDAL PLUM TREES. 81 

As these crab stock trees grow more freely than the 
Paradise stock trees, summer pinching, or shortening 
the young shoots with a penknife, as recommended in 
p. 68, must be attended to, and then, in the most un- 
favorable apple tree soils, healthy and most prolific 
pyramids may be formed. Any of the varieties re- 
commended in pp. 67 and 68 will succeed well as 
pyramids on the crab-stock. 

If managed in this manner, fine trees may be formed, 
not only of the robust-growing kinds, but even of the 
old Nonpareil, Golden Pippin, Golden Reinette, 
Hawthornden, Ribston Pippin, and several others, all 
more or less inclined to canker. I have a row of 
Nonpareils and Ribston Pippins planted in the cold- 
est and most unfavorable soil I could find, yet, owing 
to their being biennially removed, they are entirely 
free from canker. 

The vigorous growth of standard apples, when 
planted in orchards in the usual way, is well known, 
and also their tendency to canker after a few years of 
luxuriant growth. Pyramids on the crab, without 
occasional removal, or root- pruning, would, in like 
manner, grow most freely, and, even if subjected to 
summer pinching, would soon become a mass of en- 
tangled, barren, cankered shoots. 

PYRAMIDAL PLUM TREES. 

The plum, if planted in a rich garden soil, rapidly 
forms a pyramid of large growth — it, in fact, can 
scarcely be managed by summer pinching. It be- 
comes crowded with young shoots and leaves, and the 
shortening of its strong horizontal branches at the end 



82 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN". 

of summer is apt to bring on the gnm ; it is a tree, 
however, with most manageable roots, for they are 
always near the surface. I must, therefore, again 
recommend summer pinching to three leaves, as di- 
rected for pears, p. 8, annual root-pruning, and surface 
dressing, in preference to any other mode of culture. 
The annual root-pruning of the plum is performed as 
follows : — Open a circular trench eighteen inches deep 
round the tree, eighteen inches from its stem, and cut 
off every root and fibre with a sharp knife. When the 
roots are so pruned, introduce a spade under one side 
of the tree, and heave it over so as not to leave a 
single tap-root ; fill in your mould, give a top dressing 
of manure, and it is finished. The diameter of your 
circular trench must be slowly increased as years roll 
on ; for you must, each year, prune to within one and 
a half or two inches of the stumps of the former year. 
Your circular mass of fibrous roots will thus slowly 
increase, your tree will make short and well-ripened 
shoots, and bear abundantly. From very recent ex- 
perience, I have found that removing trees annually, 
if the soil be ricli — biennially, and adding some rich 
compost, if it be poor — loithout root-pr lining^ will keep 
plum trees in a healthy and fertile state. For further 
particulars on this head, see pp. 13 and 14. 

Pyramidal plum trees are most beautiful trees both 
when in flower and fruit. Their ricli purple and 
golden crop has an admirable effect on a well-managed 
pyramid. No stock has yet been found to cramp the 
energies of the plum tree. I have, Iiowever, tried 
experiments on the sloe, which, as it never forms a 
tree of any bulk, efiects this object to a certain extent. 



PYRAMIDAL PLUMS TREES. 83 

My trees on the sloe are some years old, and are dwarf 
and prolific. The first year after grafting they made 
vigorous growth ; but this is a very common occur- 
rence with stocks that ultimately make very prolific 
trees ; it is so with the pear on the quince, the apple 
on the Paradise, and the cherry on the Mahaleb. 
The greengage seems to grow more freely on the sloe 
than any other sort. I have three fine vigorous bush 
es, now about ten years old, growing in the white 
marly clay, with chalk-stones, peculiar to some parts 
of Essex and Hertfordshire. Tlie sloe seems to delight 
in this soil, so inimical to most kinds of fruit trees. 
My greengage plums are almost vigorous in their 
growth ; and what appears strange is, that the stock 
seems to keep pace with the graft — there is scarcely 
any swelling at the junction. The roots of these trees 
have not been touched, and they appear to have gone 
deeply into the solid white clay. The plum on the 
sloe is easily arrested in its growth by root-pruning. 
I have some trees, four years old, not more than eight- 
een inches high, and yet covered with blossom buds.' 
These have been only once root-pruned, and are form- 
ing themselves into nice compact prolific bushes. As 
no peculiar culture, or disease, requires to be noticed, 
I have only to give a selection of sorts calculated for 
pyramids. These are also well adapted for walls with 
W., K W., E., or S. E. aspects. 

1 Since this was written, I have found plums grafted on the phim stock so 
easily dwarfed by annual or biennial removal, that, unless in hard clayey soils, 
found to be unfavorable to the plum, there Is no occasion to employ the sloe stock, 
unless as an experiment. 



84 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



HAKDY DESSERT PLUMS ADAPTED FOR PYRAMmS. 

In season from July to the end of October. Placed in the order of their 
ripening. 



Early Favorite* 
July Green Gage* 
V>e Montfort 
Oullins's Golden Gage. 
Green Gage* 
Jeflferson* 



Kirke's* 

Transparent Gage* 
Purple Gage 
Guthrie's Late Green 
Reine Claude de Bavay* 
Bry.anstone Gage 



HARDY KITCHEN PLUMS ADAPTED FOR PYRAMIDS. 

In sea-son from Jtdy till the end of October. Placed in the order of their 
ripening. 



Early Prolific* 
Belgian Purple* 
Pond's Seedling 
Prince Englebert 
Victoria or Alderton* 
Mitchelson's 



Dove Bank 
Diamond* 
Imperial de Milan 
Autumn Compote* 
Late Black Orleans* 
Belle de Scptembre* 



PLUM TREES AS BUSHES. 

There is, perhaps, no fruit tree so easily kept within 
bounds as the plum. In rich soils they bear annual 
removal with but a slight check ; but in most soils 
biennial removal will keep them in a perfectly fruit- 
ful state in bush culture. This is absolutely neces- 
sary ; and if the soil be poor, some thoroughly rotted 
manure (about half a bushel to each tree) may be 
mixed with the soil in replanting. As with pear trees, 
the best season for lifting or removing them is the 
end of October or beginning of November. Plum 
bushes have the advantage of being easily protected 
by a square of light cheap calico, tiffany, or any light 
material, thrown over them while in blossom, and a 
crop of fruit thus insured. All the varieties recom- 
mended for pyramids may be cultivated as bushes, 
and, for suburban gardens, they should be subjected 
to exactly the same treatment as recommended for 
apple bushes, p. 67. 



CHERRIES ON THE MAHALEB. 85 

CHERRIES AS BUSHES AND PYRAMIDS ON THE MAHALEB 
STOCK (CERASUS MAHALEB). 

This stock has been long known in our shrubberies 
as the " Perfumed Cherry :" its wood when burned 
emits a most agreeable perfume. In France it is 
called " Bois de St. Lucie," and it has been used there 
for dwarf cherries for very many years ; — why it has 
not been employed by English nurserymen, I cannot 
tell. My attention was called to it in France some 
fifteen or twenty years ago, since which I have used 
it extensively, annually increasing my culture. Its 
great recommendation is, that cherries grafted on it 
will flourish in soils unfavorable to them on the com- 
mon cherry stock, such as strong white clay, or soils 
with a chalky subsoil. Although the trees grow most 
vigorously the first two or three seasons, yet, after 
that period, and especially if root-pruned, they form 
dwarf prolific bushes, so as easily to be covered with 
a net, or, what is better, with muslin or tiffany, which 
will protect the blossoms from frost in spring, and the 
fruit more effectually from birds and wasps in sum- 
mer ; thus giving us, what is certainly most rare, 
cherries fully ripe, and prolonging their season till the 
end of September. These dwarf bushes may be 
planted from five to six feet apart, and their branches 
pruned so that seven, or nine, or more, come out from 
the centre of the plant, like a well-managed goose- 
berry bush. These branches will, in May or June, 
put forth, as in the horizontal shoots of pyramidal 
pears, several shoots at their extremities, all of which 
must be pinched off to three leaves, leaving the lead- 



86 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

ing shoots untouched till the middle or end of August, 
when they must be shortened, and the pruning for 
the year is tinished. 

The Morello and Duke cherries — the most eligible 
for this bush culture — may hare their leading shoots 
shortened to eight leaves. If, however, the space be 
confined in which they are planted, this letigth may 
be reduced, for by biennial root-pruning the trees may 
be kept exceedingly dwarf. The end is to form the 
tree into a round bush, not too much crowded with 
shoots. Towards the end of September,' or, in fact, 
as soon as the autumnal rains have sufficiently pene- 
trated the soil, a trench may be dug round the tree, 
exactly the same as recommended for root-pruning of 
pears, the spade introduced under the tree to cut all 
perpendicular roots, and all the spreading roots short- 
ened with the knife, and brought near to the surface, 
previously filling in the trench with some light friable 
soil for them to rest on, and spreading them regularly 
round the tree, as near to the surface as possible ; then 
covering them with the soil that was taken out of the 
trench. No dung or manure of any kind is required, 
as this stock seems to flourish in the poorest soils. 
Some short litter, or half-decayed leaves will, how- 
ever, be of much benefit placed on the surface round 
the stem. 

I have thus far given their culture for small gar- 
dens ; but those who have more space may dispense 
with root-pruning, and allow their cherry trees to 
make large bushes, Vv'hieh may be planted eight feet 

1 This early iiutumual root-pruning will be found very advantageous. The 
flow of sap is checked, so that the shoots are well ripened, and the pruned roots 
soon emit fresh fibres to feed the ti-ee the following season. 



CHERRIES AS PYRAMIDS. 87 

apart, and pinclied regularly in the summer, and 
managed as directed for pear trees (p. 8). The lead- 
ing shoot from each branch in such cases must be left 
longer, and shortened to twelve or more buds. 

The most charming of all pyramids are the varie- 
ties of the Duke and Morello cherries on the Maha- 
leb ; these by summer pinching, as practised for pyra- 
midal pears, become in two or three years the most 
delightful fruit trees ever seen, for in spring they arc 
perfect nosegays of flowers, and in summer clusters 
of fruit — if spared by spring frosts. 

The common Morello cherry on the Mahaleb stock, 
cultivated as a pyramid, forms one of the most pro- 
lific of trees ; but as birds carry off the fruit when 
only half ripe, each pyramid should have a bag of 
tiffany placed over it, and tied round the stem of the 
tree at bottom. Any garden, however small, may 
grow enough of tliis useful sort by planting a few 
pyramids, lifting and replanting, or root-pruning 
them biennially, and pinching in every shoot to three 
leaves (as soon as it has made five) all the summer. 
The Kentish cherry, also a most useful culinary sort, 
may be cultivated as a pyramid with great success. 
A French variety grown near Paris, in large quanti- 
ties, and known as the " Cerise Aigre Hative," which 
may be Englished by calling it the Early Sour Cherry, 
is a useful kind for the kitchen. In ffoing; from Paris 
a year or two ago to Versailles by the " Rive Droite " 
Railway, I was much struck by seeing in the market 
gardens between Suresnes and Puteaux, on the left, 
large plots of dwarf trees, about the size of large 
gooseberry bushes, and some very low trees, all cov- 
6 



88 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEJ^", 

ered (as they appeared to me from the railway car- 
riage) with bright red flowers. I learned, on inrpiiry, 
that these were cherry bushes — literally masses of 
fruit, of the above variety. I find, however, that it 
is not equal to the Kentish in flavor or size in Eng- 
land. 

I need scarcely add, that the culture of all the 
Duke tribe of cherries by closely pinched-in pyramids, 
bienni-ally removed, or biennially root-pruned, is most 
satisfactory. It is, perhaps, more easily performed 
than root-pruning, and the trees soon form perfect 
pictures. As far as my experience has gone, cherries 
on the Mahaleb are much more fruitful when " oft 
removed ;" the most eligible mode is to remove only 
half the trees in one season, and the remainder the 
following season. I have seen nothing in fruit-tree 
culture more interesting than handsome compact 
pyramids of such sorts of cherries as the May Duke, 
Duchesse de Palluau, Empress Eugenie, and Arch- 
duke. One feels surprise to find that as yet but few 
lovers of gardening know of the existence of such 
trees. 

It will much facilitate the operation on their roots, 
if the trees be planted on small mounds. 

In forming plantations of pyi-amidal and dwarf 
cherries on the Mahaleb stock, it is necessary to 
arrange them with a little care. The two groups, 
those of the habit of the Morello tribe, and those of 
the compact habit of the May Duke, should be planted 
in separate rows. Bigarreau and Heart cherries are 
too short-lived, when grafted on this stock, in most 
descriptions of soils, to be recommended. 



CHERRIES AS PYRAMIDS. 80 

The following arrangement will assist the planter : — 



SECTION I.— The May Duke Tkibe. 



Arch Duke* 
May Duke* 
Royal Duke* 
Jeffrey's Duke 



Belle de Choisy 
Nouvelle Eoyale 
Empress Eugenie 
Duchesse de Palluau 



SECTION XL— The Morello Tribe. 



Carnation (Coe's Late)* 
Kentish 
Late Duke* 
Grlotte de Chaux* 



Morello* 
Eeine Ilortense* 
Belle Magniflque 
Planchoury 



Cherries planted on the Cerasus Mahaleb are emi- 
nently adapted for espaliers, or for walls, as they 
occupy less space, and are much more fertile. They 
may be planted twelve feet apart, whereas espaliers 
on the cherry stock require to be planted eighteen or 
twenty feet apart. For potting, for forcing, cherries 
on this stock are highly eligible, as they are very pro- 
lific' 

CHERRIES ON VERTICAL CORDONS. 

The varieties best adapted for this very interesting 
mode of culture are those of the Duke tribe, such as 
the May Duke, Arch Duke, Empress Eugenie, Royal 
Duke, Nouvelle Royale, Duchesse de Palluau, and 
som^ others. They require the same summer pinch- 
ing as that recommended for vertical cordon pears, p. 
42. Nothing can be more charming tlian these cor- 
don cherry trees. I have at this moment trees only 
two years old, of the Duke tribe, with their bright 
ripe fruit hanging close to the stem, and shining 
through the net that protects them from the birds. 

' Cherry trees are often infested in summer with the black aphis. Tlie best 
remedy is a mixture made by boiling four ounces of qua.ssia chips in a gallon of 
Boft water ten minutes, and dissolving in it as it cools four ounces of soft soap. It 
should be stirred, and the trees syringed with it twice or thrice. The day follow- 
ing, they should be syringed with pure water. 



90 



THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



A PYKAMIDAL MOKELLO CIIEURY TREE. 
From a Photograph, August, 1862. 




CHERRIES AS PYRAMIDS. 91 

The best of all protection, both from birds and wasps, 
is, however, Haythorn's netting, or coarse muslin, 
formed into a narrow bag, which should be let down 
gently over the tree, and tied at the bottom ; Duke 
cherries may thus be preserved till August. I may 
mention here, that with all these cordon trees, root- 
pruning or removal is seldom required, their vital 
force is so reduced by continuous pinching of the 
young shoots ; but if a rich soil gives too much vigor, 
it may be practised. There are a few kinds of plums, 
of upright growth, which may also be cultivated as 
vertical cordons. 

The Bigarreau and Heart, or Guigne cherries, are 
too vigorous for this mode of culture when grafted or 
budded, as they generally are, on the common cherry 
stock. The new mode of culture by double gratting, 
i. «., by grafting them on young trees of the common 
Morello cherry that have been grafted on the Mahaleb, 
will make them most prolific cordons. (See p. 102.) 

I must add a piece of very necessary advice : all 
cordon trees, whether pears, apples, cherries, or plums, 
should be supported by a sliglit iron rod, about the 
size of a goose-quill, which should be painted ; this 
should stand six to seven feet above the surface, and 
be inserted ten to twelve inches in the ground, and 
the tree attached loosely to it by two or three ligatures 
of copper wire. 

BIGAEREAU AND HEART CHEBBIES AS PTEAMID8 ON THE 
COMMON CHEERY STOCK. 

Among the mysteries of vegetable physiology, there 
is nothing, perhaps, more interesting than the facts 



92 THE MIXIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

discovered by the fruit-cultivator. Many kinds of 
pears grow with great luxuriance when grafted or 
l^udded on the quince stock, while other kinds, culti- 
vated in the same soil, and budded or grafted with 
equal care, will grow feebly, and die in the course of 
a year or two. 

The Noblesse and Royal George peaches form fine 
healthy trees when budded on the Muscle plum stock. 
The Grosse Mignonne and the French Galande die in 
a year or two, if budded on it. The Moor Park apri- 
cot grows readily and freely on the above-named stock. 
Tlie peach apricot, its French congener, will not ; 
wliy? The Bigarreau and the Heart cherries (or, as 
the French call them, Guignes) do not succeed well_ 
on the Cerasus Mahaleb ; they grow most rapidly for 
two or three years, and then generally become gummy 
and diseased. 

The stock raised from the small black and red wild 
cherries is the j^roper one for this race, except they 
are double grafted. 

Pyramidal cherry trees maybe bought ready-made, 
or formed by purchasing young trees, one year old, 
from the bud, and training them up in the same way 
as directed for pyramidal pears (pp. 4 and 5), with 
this variation — pears, as is well known, may be grown 
as pyramids successfully, with or without root -prun- 
ing or biennial removal; but cherries on common 
cherry stocks will grow so rapidly, in spite of summer 
pinching, that biennial removal is a work of necessity. 
In the course of a few years, pyramidal cherry trees 
thus treated become pictures of beauty. In France 
they generally fail, and become full of dead stumps 



PYRAMIDij;. CHERRIES. 03 

and gum, owing to their trusting entirely to pruning 
their trees severely in summer and winter, without 
attending to their roots ; the trees thus being full of 
vigor make strong shoots, only to be pinched and cut 
off. We must " manage these things better " in Eng- 
land. 

The mode of operation in removing pyramidal 
cherries is the same as that recommended for pears 
and apples, &c. It mil be found, however, that more 
labor is required, for in two years the cherry on the 
common stock, like the apple on the crab, makes a 
vigorous attempt to lay hold of its parent earth. The 
second year the tree may be lifted by digging a trench 
round its stem, one foot from it and 16 inches deep. 
The fourth year this trench must be made 18 inches 
from the stem and 20 inches deep ; the sixth year it 
should be 2 feet from the stem and 2 feet deep. This 
distance and depth need not be departed from if the 
trees are required to be only fair-si-zed pyramids ; the 
straggling roots beyond this circumference should be 
biennially pruned off with the knife. The tree man- 
aged thus will soon be in a mature, fruitful state, 
and its roots a mass of fibres, so that when removed 
it will, like the rhododendron, receive only a healthy 
check. 

Pyramidal Bigarreau and Heart chemes, cultivated 
after the method above given, may be planted in 
small grass orchards, with pyramidal pears on pear 
stocks, pyramidal apples on crab stocks, and pyramidal 
plums. A charming orchard in miniature may thus 
be formed. Cattle' and sheep must, of course, be 
excluded. 



94 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

Tlie following varieties form handsome pyramidal 
trees, and bear fruit of the finest quality : — 



Bolle d'Orleans* 
JJigarreau 

Bigarrcau Napol6on 
Black Eagle* 
Black Tartarian 
Downton 



Elton* 
Florence* 
Governor Wood* 
Knight's Early Black* 
Ohio Beauty 
Werder's Early Black 



I have thus far given the results of my experience 
in the culture of pyramidal trees. The method is not 
by any means new, for visitors to the Continent, for 
these last fifty years, must have often observed the 
numerous pyi-amids of France and Belgium. The 
system of annual and biennial root-pruning I must, 
however, claim as original, for I feel assured that in 
our moist climate — too moist for many varieties of 
fruit — such check is required to keep pyramids that 
are under summer pinching in a healtliy, fruitful state. 
The defect in the pyramidal trees of the Continental 
gardeners is their tendency to an enormous produc- 
tion of leaves and shoots, brought on by severe annual 
pruning of their shoots. The climate is probably too 
dry for root-pruning ; yet I cannot lielp thinking that 
if it were followed by manuring thickly on the sur- 
face, and occasional watering, it would make their 
trees prodigiously fruitful. 

At the risk of repetition, and writing from my own 
experience, I must say that no gardening operation 
can be more agreeable than paying daily attention to 
a plantation of pyramids. From the end of May to 
the end of July — those beautiful months of our short 
summer — there are always shoots to watch, to pinch, 
to direct, fruit to thin, and a host of pleasant opera- 
tions, so winning to one who loves his garden and 
every tree and plant in it. 



FILBERTS AND NUTS AS STANDARDS. 95 

To conclude, I may mention that the small Alberge 
apricot, raised from the stone, and producing small 
high-flavored fruit, and also the Breda apricot, make 
very beautiful pyi'amids if lifted or planted biennially. 
In the southern counties of England, in a favorable 
season, they will ripen their fruit, and produce good 
crops. The large Portugal quince is also very prolific 
as a pyramidal tree. Some trees only two years old 
have borne fine fruit here. This is the finest of all 
tlie quinces, and in the south of Europe it grows to 
an enormous size. The Medlar will also form a hand- 
some and productive pyi-amid, and, " last, but not 
least " in the estimation of the lover of soft fruits, the 
currant. A near neighbor — an ingenious gardener 
— attaches much value, and with reason, to his pyra- 
midal currant trees ; for his table is supplied abun- 
dantly with their fruit till late in autumn. The lead- 
ing shoots of his trees are fastened to iron rods ; they 
form nice pyramids of about five feet in height ; and 
by the clever contrivance of slipping a bag made of 
coarse muslin over every tree as soon as the fruit is 
ripe, fastening it securely to the bottom, wasps, and 
birds, and flies, and all the ills that beset ripe currants 
are excluded. With all these, summer pinching and 
root-pruning, or biennial removal (except the currant, 
which does not require the latter operation), as di- 
rected for pears, are indispensable ; they soon form 
very handsome ])yramids, and make a pleasing variety 
in the fruit garden. 

FILBERTS AND NUTS AS STANDARDS. 

Filberts, as commonly cultivated, except in the 

5* 



08 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

Keiitisli gardens, form straggling busTies, and are 
some years before they commence to bear. To cor- 
rect this, I some ten or more years since bad them 
grafted on stems of the bazel-nut raised from Spanish 
nuts, as they were vigorous growers and formed stout 
stems. I have found tliese grafted trees answer ad- 
mirably, and come quickly into bearing, forming nice 
garden trees. 

As soon as the nut trees designed for stocks have 
made stout stems about four feet high, they should be 
grafted at that height with the choice kind of nuts, 
such as red and white filberts and the Cusford nut — 
an excellent nut. The purple-leaved filbert, gener- 
ally planted as an ornamental shrub, may also be 
grafted ; it gives nuts equal to the common filbert, 
and forms a nice ornamental standard. 

Standard nuts require but little culture ; they soon 
form round heads, and bear profusely. Care must be 
taken to destroy all suckers from the stem and root. 

The only pruning required is in winter, to thin out 
the crow^ded shoots, and shorten to half their length 
those that are inclined to be vigorous — that is, those 
that are more than nine inches in length. The sliort 
spray-like shoots must not be shortened, as they are 
the fruit-givers. 

If these standard nuts are planted in rich garden 
soils, they will soon make trees too large for small 
gardens. If, therefore, they are found to grow too 
vigorously, they should be lifted and replanted I)ieu- 
nially in November, 

I have mentioned seedling nuts as good for stocks ; 
but I have lately employed a valuable sort introduced 



FiaS AS HALF STANDARDS OR BUSHES. 97 

from Germany as Corjlus arborescens ; this makes a 
beautiful clear stem. 

The Algiers nut, Corylus algerensis, seems also to 
be well adapted for a stock for standards, as it makes 
shoots from six to seven feet in one season. 

FIGS AS HALF STANDAKDS OR BUSHES. 

There is, perhaps, no fruit tree that disappoints 
the amateur fruit grower so much as the fig. If 
planted in the open borders of the garden, it soon 
grows into an enormous fruitless bush or tree, and 
if placed against a wall, unless a very large space 
can be given to it, but little fruit must be expected. 

It may, however, be made eligible for small gar- 
dens, where the climate is sufficiently warm to ripen 
its fruit, such as the gardens near London, and those 
in the eastern and southern counties. Fruitfulness 
and moderate growth are brought on by the following 
method. Trees should be procured of the Brown 
Turkey or Lee's Perpetual, White Marseilles and 
Early Yiolet Figs — these are the only kinds that bear 
freely, and ripen their fruit well — such trees should be 
low or half standards, or dwarfs with a clear stem 
(not bushes branching from the ground). The former 
should hare a stem three feet high, and the latter one 
from one foot to eighteen inches ; in each case the 
tree should have a nice rounded head. 

Trees thus selected should be planted in a sunny 
situation, and require only the following simple mode 
of treatment. They, we will assume, were planted in 
March or April. They will make a tolerably vigorous 
growth, and must be pruned by pinching off the top 



98 THE MINIATUEE FRUIT GARDEN. 

of eveiy slioot as soon as it has made six leaves, leav- 
ing five. The stem must be kept quite clear from 
young shoots. By the autumn, nice round-headed 
trees will be formed, and about the end of October 
they should be taken up (their leaves cut off, if they 
have not fallen) and placed in a cellar — no matter if 
dark, but a light dry cellar would be preferable — some 
earth should be placed over their roots, and there 
they may remain till the first week in May, when 
they should be planted out, and the same routine of 
culture followed. They will bear one good crop of 
fruit in a season, and ripen it in September. This 
annual removal brings on great sturdiness of growth 
in the tree, and the roots becomes so fibrous as to hold 
a lai'ge quantity of earth, which should not be shaken 
from them when they go into their annual winter 
abode. In the year 1857 I saw tine trees thus treated 
in the garden of tlie Duke of Altenburg, in Central 
Germany ; their stems were as stout as a man's leg 
and their heads full of fruit ; and this season, 1 865, 
my fig-trees, taken up last October, and placed in the 
orchard-house during the winter — their roots in the 
soil — have given me a crop of very rich, well-ripened 
fruit. The roots that have borne best are the Brown 
Ischia, Brown Turkey, and Brunswick. 

TUE BIENNIAL REMOVAL OF FRUIT TREES WITHOUT 
ROOT-PRHNmO. 

For some few years past I have felt a growing con- 
viction that peach trees trained against walls in the 
usual manner, without careful root cultivation, can- 
not, in our climate, be kept in a state at all healthy 



BIENNIAL REMOVAL OP FRUIT TREES. 99 

or fertile for a series of years. A wall covered witli 
healthy peach or nectarine trees of a good ripe age is 
rarely to be seen ; failing crops and blighted trees are 
the rule, healthy and fertile trees the exception. The 
following mode of treating peaches, nectarines, apri- 
cots, and plums on the removal system I have found 
simple and efficacious. 

Supposing a trained tree, of the usual size, to have 
been planted in a border well prepared — i. t'., stirred 
to a depth of twenty inches ; it may be trained to the 
wall as usual, and suffered to grow two seasons. To- 
ward the end of October, or, indeed, any time in No- 
vember in the second season, it should be carefully 
taken up, with all its roots intact. If there be two or 
three stragglers — i. e., roots of two or three feet in 
length — for roots are remarkably eccentric, and often, 
without any apparent cause, run away in search of 
something they take a fancy to — cut off one foot or so, 
so as to make the roots of the tree more snug. Then 
make the hole from whence you took your tree a 
little deeper, and fit to receive its roots without bend- 
ing or twisting. Place in it any light compost. If 
the soil be heavy, leaf-mould, rotten manure, and 
loam, equal parts : if it be light, two-thirds tender 
loam, not sandy, and one-third rotten manure. Two 
inches deep of this compost will be enough for the 
roots of the tree to rest on ; and mind they are care- 
fully arranged, so as to diverge regularly : then add 
enough of the compost to cover all the roots, and fill 
in with the common soil, so as not to cover the siu*- 
fhce roots more than two inches deep. If the soil be 
light, the surface should be trodden down very firmly, 



100 I'HE MINIATUriE FRUIT GARDEN. 

and then have a dressing of old tan, or decayed 
litter. 

A tree that has been planted two years will require 
one barrowful of the above compost ; at the end of 
four years, two barrowfuls ; when six years have 
passed, from three to four barrowfuls ; and from four 
to six barrowfuls will be enough for a tree from twelve 
to twenty years old — in short, for a full-grown tree. 
A portion of the earth from the border must be re- 
moved when a large quantity of compost is added, to 
make room for it, so as not to have an unsightly 
mound. In the course of two or three removals, 
the roots of the tree will become a mass of fibres, 
and the trees so docile as to be lifted without difiiculty. 

I have tliis day (Dec. 12, 1852) removed two plum 
trees that liave been planted six years and removed 
twice. Their roots are a mass of fibres without one 
straggling root ; they have been replanted with a bar- 
rowful of light compost to each tree,' and, if I may 
judge by the enormous quantity of blossom buds, they 
will bear a plentiful crop next season. They will re- 
ceive no unhealthy check, for abundance of earth 
adheres t(j the mass of fibrous roots. Now, as peaches, 
nectarines, and apricots, ])eiug budded on plum stocks, 
are all on plum roots, they will give exactly the same 
results from the same mode of culture, neither the size 
nor flavor of the fi-uit will be aflected, and tlie trees 
will always bear abundantly, and be healthy and 
flourishing, 

' The soil is rich, and one barrowful I thought quite enough. The quanti- 
ty of compost must be regulated by the wants of the soil, for in rich soils, where 
peaches and nectarines are apt to grow too freely, no compost need be added, but 
the tree merely lifted and replaced. A peach, nectarine, or apricot tree, under the 
removal system, that makes annual shoots more than fifteen inches in length, id 
too luxuriant, and will require no compost to its roots when replanted. 



REMOVING TREES BIENNIALLY. 101 

The pletboric habit of the Moor Park and Peach 
apricots, which so often leads to disease and death, 
will be eflfectually cured by this simple mode of cul- 
ture, and peaches and nectarines will make short 
annual shoots, which will be always well ripened, so 
that they will be constantly full of healthy blossom- 
buds. For trees under Mr. Ker's trellises, it answers 
admirably. Some mulch, or old tan, two inches in 
depth, placed on the surface of the soil so far as the 
roots spread diu'ing the spring and summer, will be 
of much service. 

All trees that are inclined to make very fibrous 
roots, such as plums, pears on quince stocks, and ap- 
ples on Paradise stocks, may be lifted — i. <?., removed 
biennially, as above described — with equal or greater 
facility than root-pruning them. The efiect is the 
same : they make short, well-ripened shoots, and bear 
abundantly. Apples on Paradise stocks, cultivated 
as dwarf bushes or as pyramids, if lifted every year, 
and a shovelful or two of compost given to thsm, form 
delightful little trees.^ The most delicate sorts of 
apples, such as Golden Pippins and JSTonpareils, may 
thus be cultivated in the most unfavorable soils ; and 
Roses, more particularly Bom'bon Roses on short 
stems, and Hybrid Perpetuals, removed annually in 
the autumn, giving to each tree a shovelful of rich 
compost, and not pruning their shoots till April, will 
bloom delightfully all the autumn, never dropping 
their leaves towards the end of summer, and becom- 
ing, as is too often the case, blighted and blossomless. 

' In moist retentive soils, the fruit-spurs of small trees become covered with 
moss ; some powdered lime sprinkled over them will destroy It ; this is best done 
in foggy weather in winter. 



102 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

To eoiiclude, I will, as a guide to the amateur, give 
the following summary : — If the soil be very rich, so 
as to induce the trees planted in it to make a growth 
of eighteen inches in one season, they may be removed 
annually till this vigorous growth ceases. If the trees 
make an annual growth only of eight to ten inches, 
the trees may be removed hicnnially, and I may add 
that, in soils in vjhich trees grow sloiDhj^ root-pruning 
is more advantageous than removal, as less check is 
given to vegetation. 

DOUBLE GKAFTING OF FETJIT TREES. 

I have not been able to find this mode of culture, 
likely to be so beneficial to fruit gardens in England, 
alluded to by the many authors of works on fruit trees ; 
it may be " as old as the hills," and have no claim to 
originality, but few so-called new ideas have. I can 
only therefore state how it originated here some fif- 
teen or twenty years since. I am not aware that it 
has been practised by the clever fruit tree cultivators 
of France and Belgium ; if so, it has been recently 
copied from English practice, but I never remember 
having seen it carried out. 

Its history, briefly told, is as follows : — I observed, 
when budding and grafting pears on the quince stock, 
that some varieties did not grow freely on that stock, 
when budded or grafted ; particularly the Gansel's 
Bcrgamot and the Autumn Bergamot, the Seckel, the 
Marie Louise, Knight's Monarch, and some others. 
Now, as the first and last mentioned are notorious for 
their shy bearing qualities, while the trees are young, 



DOUBLE GRAFTING OF FRUIT TREES. 103 

even wlien root-pruned or frequently removed, I felt 
anxious to see tliem flourisliing on tlie quince stock, 
wliich invariably makes pear trees fertile. I found 
that but few grafts of these sorts out of scores would 
survive on the quince, and when they did unite they 
were very short lived ; this induced me to look nar- 
rowly into the habits of pear trees on the quince stock, 
and I found that the Beurre d'Amanlis formed a most 
perfect union with the stock, and seemed most endu- 
ring, for I had seen trees in France at least fifty years 
old. I therefore fixed upon this sort for my experi- 
ment, and had thrifty trees, two years old from the 
bud, grafted with Gansel's Bergamot ; the grafts 
flourished, and became so prolific that, when three or 
four years old, they each bore from three to four dozen 
of fruit — a most unusual thing with that fine variety. 
This settled the question as to the fertility given by 
double grafting, which, since this experiment, has be- 
come here an extensive branch of culture. There are 
other kinds of pears which, from uniting with- and 
growing freely on the quince stock, serve well for 
double grafting, such as Prince Albert, Bezi Goubault, 
and Conseiller de la Cour. Prince Albert is a sort 
well adapted for the Monarch, Marie Louise, Prince 
of Wales (Huyshe), Victoria (Huyshe), and British 
Queen ; Beurre d'Amanlis may be used for the Jargo- 
nelle and Bergamots, as may also Bezi Goubault, the 
li iirdiest pear known. The cultivator has something 
to learn, for there are many pears of the finest quali- 
ty, but of a delicate and infertile habit, that may be 
much improved by double grafting. 

Our garden culture of cherries is, as yet, rude and 



104: THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN, 

imperfect ; and espaliers of the Bigarreau and Guigne 
or Heart' tribe are planted and trained along the sides 
of the garden walks, giving abnn dance of shoots and 
leaves, bnt very little fruit (which the birds appro- 
priate), and in the course of time give out gum- 
owing to their having been unmercifully pruned — ■ 
and die full of years and barren shoots, having given 
nnieh trouble to the gardener. I have pointed out 
how cherries may be cultivated in gardens as pyra- 
mids, ifec, and have alluded to fertility in the Bigar- 
reau and Heart tribe being promoted by double graft- 
ing ; this mode of culture is also interesting, as leading 
to success in soils that seem unfavorable to cherries 
under some circumstances. 

Cherries grafted on the Mahaleb are described pp. 
85 to 90 ; they affect calcareous soils, and, as far as I 
can learn, do not succeed so w^ell in the sandstone 
formations, and where iron al^ounds in the soil ; in 
such situations, double grafted trees should be planted 
formed in this way — the connnon Morello cherry 
should be budded on the Mahalel) stock, and after two 
years it should be grafted with some kind of Bigar- 
reau, Heart, or Guigne cherry ; it will form a small 
or moderate sized tree, and bear abundantly. In cul- 
tivating cherry trees in soils inimical to their well- 
doiuir, abundance of chalk or lime rubbish should be 
mixed with the earth to the depth of two feet. 

Double grafting of apples is of very inferior im- 
portance as compared with the same operation on 
pears or cherries, for our English Paradise stocks give 
the most perfect health and fertility in nearly all soils. 
Still there may be some peculiar positions, where the 



DOUBLE GRAFTING OF FRUIT TREES. 105 

soils are very light and poor, in which strong, robust 
sorts of the crab stock are required to make healthy 
fruitful trees. In such cases it is better to graft such 
sorts as the Hawthoruden, Manx Codlin, and Small's 
Admirable, on thrifty crab stocks, and when two years 
old regraft them with choice dessert kinds : all double 
grafting is best done when the first graft is two years 
old. I have now pointed out to a certain extent the 
advantages of double grafting, but much must be left 
to the intelligent amateur. It is to be regretted that 
English cultivators, more particularly nurserymen, 
have not turned their attention to the benefit choice 
fruit trees derive from having the proper kind of stock 
selected for them, or from being double grafted. Mr. 
George Lindley, father of Dr. Lindley, seems to have 
turned his attention to fruit tree stocks, more than 
any other nurseryman of his day ; still he knew only 
those grown by the Surrey Nurserymen of the present 
day — a very imperfect list — for nurserymen, like 
farmers, move slowly. It is but a few years since that 
the common fruit-bearing quince, raised from layers 
— a most unfit stock — was sold in SuiTey for stocks 
for pears, and Muscle, White Pear plum, Brompton, 
Brussels, and "Commoners" (i. e., common plum 
stocks), are still the plum stocks propagated in Surrey 
for sale ; all except the first and the last are of infe- 
rior quality and are surpassed by the French stock, 
the Black Damask plum, which suits Peaches, Necta- 
rines, Apricots, and all kinds of plums. 

The double budding of some kinds of peaches and 
nectarines is almost necessary to their well doing in 
some soils, yet this method of culture seems to have 



106 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

been neglected by European nurserymen. The tnitli 
must be confessed, that nurserymen, as a class, have 
but little taste for pomology ; they take to flowers and 
plants eagerly, because they give a quick return ; and 
thus Pomona and her gifts are always placed in the 
shade — as to experiments, " they do not pay." There 
are some free growing kinds of apricots which, when 
budded on the plum, and the young apricot budded 
with a peach or nectarine, produce the most favor- 
able eifects on the peach tree, the union being perfect 
and the duration of it much lengthened. There are 
also one or two kinds of plums which, being budded 
on a wild kind of plum, furnish when double budded 
a most favorable stock for the peach, giving it hardi- 
ness and fertility. We are still very backward in our 
knowledge of the effects of stocks on fruits ; the sub- 
ject requires much time and research, and no rushing 
to conclusions like some of our writers, who write on 
every thing and nothing well, only because they have 
not tlie necessary patience to master a few subjects 
thoroughly. 

HOW TO PREPAKE A PEACH TREE BORDER IN LIGHT 

SOILS. 

In om* southern counties, where light sandy s^^ils 
abound, the difficulty of making peach and nectarine 
trees trained to walls ilourisli is well known ; in spring 
tliey are liable to the curl and the attacks of aphides, in 
summer they are infested with the red spider, so that 
the trees are weakened, and rarely give good fruit : 
they seem, indeed, to detest light soils. The follow- 
ing method of prej)aring borders for them in such 



PEACH TREE BORDER IN LIGHT SOILS. 107 

soils may be well known, but I liave not seen it de- 
scribed by any gardening author. The idea has come 
to me from observing peacb trees, trained to walls, re- 
fuse to do well in the light sandy soil forming a part 
of my nursery, except near paths, and to grow and 
do well for years in the stiff tenacious loam forming 
another part. My bearing trees in pots, for which I 
use tenacious loam and dung, rammed down with a 
wooden pestle, also bear and flourish almost beyond 
belief; and so I am induced to recommend that, in 
light soils, the peach tree border should be made as 
follows : — To a wall of moderate height, say nine or 
ten feet, a border six feet wide, and to a wall twelve feet 
high, one eight feet wide should be marked out ; if the 
soil be poor and exhausted by cropping, or if it be an 
old garden, a dressing of rotten dung ' and tenacious 
loam, or clay, equal parts, five inches in thickness, 
should be spread over the surface of the border : it 
should then be stirred to two feet in depth, and the 
loam and dung well mixed with the soil. The trees 
may be planted during the winter, and in March, in 
dry weather, the border all over its surface should be 
thoroughly rammed down with a wooden rammer, so 
as to make it like a well-trodden path ; some light 
half-rotten manure, say from one to two inches in 
depth, may then be spread over it, and the operation 
is complete. This border must never be stirred, ex- 
cept with the hoe, to destroy weeds, and, of course, 
never cropped: every succeeding spring, in dry 
weather, the ramming and dressing must be repeated, 
as the soil is always much loosened by fi'ost. If this 

1 If the border be new or rich with manure, a dressing of the loam, or clav 
only, four inches in thickness, will be sutBcient. 



J08 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

method be followed, peaches and nectarines may be 
made to flourish in our dry southern counties, where 
they have hitherto brought nothinoj but disappoint-^ 
ment. ' 

' The two grand essentials for peach culture are stiff 

loam and a sunny climate. 

I 

A CHEAP METHOD OF PROTECTIJSTG WALL TREES. 

At Twyford Lodge, near East Grinstead, Sussex, 
the seat of R. Trotter, Esq., is a wall 75 feet long, 
covered with peaches and nectarines, which, for sev- 
eral years, had given no fi-uit ; some years ago, the 
gardener, Mr. Murrell, asked my advice about pro- 
tecting it with glass ; and, acting upon it with his own 
adaptation, has succeeded, every season since its erec- 
tion, in securing fine crops of fruit of superior flavor. 
The following is a description of this simple struc- 
ture : — 

At the top of the wall, which is 12 feet high, is 
nailed a plate for the' ends of the rafters to rest on ; 4 
feet 6 inches from the wall is a row of posts, 6 inches 
by 4 (these should be of oak), C feet apart, and 3 feet 
6 inches in height, from the ground ; on these is nail- 
ed a plate to receive the lower ends of the rafters ; the 
latter are 8 feet long, 3 inches by 1^, and 20 inches 
asunder ; and the glass employed is 16 oz. sheet, 20 
inches by 12. Every fourth square of glass at the top 
next the wall is fixed into a slight frame of wood, 
with a hinge at the top of edch, and made to open 
all at once by a line running in a wheel ; the front is 
of |-inch deal boards nailed to the posts, one of which, 
one foot wide, near the top, is on hinges, forming a 



STANDARD ORCHARD TREES. 109 

drop shutter the whole length of the front. Now 
conies the management by which red spider, the 
deadly foe of the peach tree, is discomfited ; and let 
me qnote Mr. Mm-rel :— 

" All these ventilators, back and fi'ont, I leave open 
day and night after May, except in very wet and 
rough weather. The first season I had the red spider 
(it was in the walls), but the fruit was of the highest 
flavor ; the second season the fruit was very fine, and 
the spiders never came, I believe, owing entirely to 
my syringing the trees twice a day, morning and 
afternoon, and leaving all the ventilators open ; be- 
sides this, the boards have shrunk, so that there are 
wide crevices, and the place is always airy. I thank 
you for your hints about giving plenty of air ; the 
trees are admired by all who see them." 

The roof, it will be seen, is fixed, and the whole 
structure a fixture; the trees can be pruned and 
nailed under shelter, and a crop of fruit always in- 
sured ; how superior, then, is this to all the tempo- 
rary protectors for walls so often recommended ! 

STANDARD OKCHAKD TREES. 

Although in this little work I profess to confine 
myself to the culture of garden fruit trees, I feel that 
a few words as to my method of planting trees in an 
orchard under grass may not be out of place, for very 
frequently a villa residence may have a piece of pas- 
ture land attached to it favorable to the growth of 
orchard trees, and quite necessary as a convenient 
place for the cow or the horse or horses. The com- 
mon practice is to open large holes in the turf, six 



110 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

feet in diameter, and from two to three feet deep ; 
and in the centre to plant a tree. In rich deep loamy 
soils trees often succeed when planted in this manner, 
and as often fail, the hole becoming in wet seasons a 
pond. 

Orchard trees, as a general rule, should be planted 
twenty-four feet apart, row from row, and they are 
for the most part planted twenty-four feet apart in the 
rows, so as to -ttind that distance apart over the whole 
orchard. I now propose that the rows should be 
twenty-four feet apart, but the trees twelve feet apart 
in the rows, so as to allow of one-third more trees to 
the acre. Instead of digging large holes, slips, six 
feet wide, should be marked out on the turf, so that 
the centre of each is twenty-four feet apart ; each 
slip should then be trenched, or, as it is often called, 
" double-dug," to a depth of two feet, turning the turf 
to the bottom of the trench and lu'ingiug the subsoil 
to the surface. A row of trees should l)e planted in 
the centre of each slip, twelve feet apart, and after 
the lapse of some fifteen or twenty years every alter- 
nate tree should be either removed and replanted or 
grabbed up. As such large standard trees would 
require much care in transplanting, and even then 
probably not succeed, the latter may prove the more 
economic mode. By thus planting more trees than 
required for a permanent orchard, a great advantage 
is reaped, for the temporarj^ trees will, if the land is 
good, bear a large quantity of fruit, and amply repay 
their cost, which is trifling ; for whereas ninety-five 
trees are required to plant one acre, twenty-four feet 
apart, by the above method 142 may be planted. I 



STANDARD ORCHARD TREES. Hi 

have mentioned from fifteen to twenty years as the 
probable time when the temporary trees may be re- 
moved; as this depends entirely upon the quality of 
the son and the progress they have made, a more cer- 
tain rule to lay down is, that, as soon as the outside 
shoots of the trees touch each other, the temporary 
trees should be removed. I need scarcely write the 
usual directions as to the trees being fenced round, 
if horses and cows are turned into the orchard — that 
the trees should have stems at least six feet in height, 
and the lower branches should be taken off as soon 
as they become depressed enough for cattle to browse 
on them. One direction I feel, however, bound to 
give — a circle from three to four feet in diameter 
round each tree should be kept clear of grass and 
weeds for at least five years from the time of planting ; 
after that period, grass may be allowed to cover all 
the surface, as in old orchards. 

In preparing the slips by trenching, if the subsoil 
be poor and stony, it should not be brought to the 
surface, but be merely turned over with the spade, 
and some manure mixed with it, keeping the turf^ — 
well chopped — and the loose mould on the surface. 
If the soil be wet, drains four feet deep should be 
made twenty-four feet apart, one in the centre of the 
space between each row of trees ; they should be made 
with loose stones, which are far better than pipes for 
orchards. The bottom of the drain should be filled to 
the depth of eighteen inches with loose stones, and 
then filled in with the soil of the orchard. The soils 
best adapted for orchard trees are, first, loams with a 
subsoil of limestone ; second, loams resting on a di'y 



112 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 

stony subsoil ; tliird, loams resting on clay — these 
shoiild be drained. Light sandy loams, with a subsoil 
of sand, chalk, and gravel, are not adapted for stand- 
ard orchard trees, unless the staple of loam is from 
three to four feet thick, 

PEOPEE DISTANCES FOE PLANTE^G PTKAMIDAL AND 
OTHEE FEUIT TERES. 

Pyramidal pear trees and bushes on quince stocks, 
to be cultivated as root-pruned trees, for small gar- 
dens, four feet apart. 

The same, in larger gardens, not root-pruned, six 
feet apart. 

Pyramidal pear trees on the pear stock, root-pruned, 
six feet apart. 

The same, roots not pruned, eight to ten feet — the 
latter if the soil be very rich. 

Horizontal espalier pear trees on the quince stock, 
for rails or walls, ten feet apart. 

Upright espaliers on the quince stock, for rails or 
walls, four to six feet apart. 

Horizontal espaliers on the pear stock, for rails or 
walls, twenty feet apart. 

Pyramidal plum trees, six feet apart. 

Espalier plum trees, twenty feet apart. 

Pyramidal and bush apple trees on the Paradise 
stock, root-pruned, for small gardens, three to four 
feet apart. 

The same, roots not pruned, four to six feet apart. 

Espalier apple trees on the Paradise stock, fifteen 
feet apart. 

The same on the crab stock, twenty feet apart. 



STANDARD ORCHARD TREES. 113 

Peaches and nectarines, for walls, fifteen to twenty 
feet apart. 

Apricots, for walls, twenty feet apart. 

Cherries, as bushes and pyramids on the Mahaleb 
stock, root-pruned, for small gardens, four feet apart. 

The same, roots not pruned, six feet apart. 

Pyramidal cherries on the common cherry stock, 
six feet apart. 

Espalier cherry trees, for. rails or walls, fifteen to 
twenty feet apart. 

Proper distances for trees against dwarf walls, 
annually or biennially removed (see page 3Y). 

Pears on quince stocks, five feet apart. 

Peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums, five feet 
apart. 

Cherries and apples, five feet apart. 



APPENDIX. 



THE PEACH TKELLIS OF THOMAS WHITE, ESQ., MANOR 
HOUSE, -WEATHEKSFIELD, ESSEX. 

In the autumn of the year 1851, Mr. White, while 
walking through the grounds here, happened to see my 
small Ker's trelHs with movable lights, and on his re- 
turn home the idea occurred to him that it might be 
enlarged, and the principle improved upon, so as to be 
able to grow fruit enough for a large family. In the 
autumn of that year, he accordingly built a trellis-house 
of the following dimensions : — 



Length .... 

Width (inside) . 

Height at back . 

Height at front . 

Rafters (fixed 20 inches apart) 

TrelKs (15 inches from the glass) 

Sunken path in centre 



. 80 feet. 
. 12 feet. 
. 8 feet. 
. 14: inches. 
. 14 feet long. 
. 13 feet wide. 
. 2 feet deep. 



The front and back plates both rest on larch poles 
about four or five feet apart ; a shutter, twelve inches 
wide, on hinges, forms, with a slip of board, the front 
wall. The back wall is made with long fagots of 
brushwood — a double row ; the ends are boarded up, 
and a door is at each end. Perhaps no gardening 
structure was ever built so cheaply, and none ever pro- 



llg APPENDIX. 

duced such, marvellous effects. The trees — dwarf and 
standard trained peaches and nectarines, two or three 
years trained, twelve of the former and six of the lat- 
ter — were planted in February, 1852 ; and in the sea- 
son of 1854, only the third year of their growth, they 
bore 5,000 peaches and nectarines. On one tree of the 
Noblesse Peach there were 500 peaches, and the same 
number or more on a tree of the Elruge Nectarine. 
This seemed enough to ruin the health of the trees, 
and so I thought when I heard of it ; but when I saw 
the excessive vigor of the trees, I thought Mr. White 
and his gardener not so far wrong in allowing them to 
bear such an enormous crop. The dwarf trees have 
reached to the top of the trellis and covered it com- 
pletely. 

Mr. "White was, I believe, offered the sum that the 
house cost him — somewhere about £40 — for his crop 
of peaches and nectarines in 1854, The vigor of the 
trees is quite astonishing; the stems of some of them 
are twelve or more inches in circumference ; they are 
planted inside the front shutter, and laid directly on 
the trellis. The remarkable success of this simple 
structure seems owing entirely to the perfection of its 
ventilation ; the front shutter has been open night and 
day in warm weather, and the air passes gently and 
constantly through its brushwood back wall, so as en- 
tirely to prevent stagnation. The trees have been 
syringed regularly night and morning, and are in the 
jiuest possible health. 

As the brushwood wall is unsightly and dangerous 
in some situations, owing to its capability of harbor- 
ins: rats and mice, we must now see what can be substi- 



APPENDIX. 117 

tuted for its perfect ventilating property. Hedges to 
lean-io houses, as I know from experience, are too cold 
to ripen peaches and nectarines, although highly fa- 
vorable to the growth of the trees ; it therefore ap- 
pears to me that the perforated bricks, now largely 
manufactured, could be used with advantage in this 
way. The wall, eight feet in height, should be built 
five feet from the ground with common bricks ; and 
then, three feet up to the top for the plate to rest on^ 
with perforated bricks, placed edgewise. In very cold 
weather in March, when the trees are in blossom, a 
curtain of calico, or any other convenient material, 
might be arranged so as to cover this space of the per- 
forated wall at night, and in May it may be removed 
for the summer. This perforated space, with the front 
shutter constantly open, will, in my opinion, be perfect 
for a peach trelKs, and not unsightly. 

It will be seen, from what I have said that Mr. 
White's trellis differs from Mr. Ker's in this way — the 
roof is tiried, and not of removable lights ; the trees 
are pruned and the fruit is gathered from underneath, 
so that all the operations of culture are performed un- 
der shelter, and in a climate at all times favorable. 

Since the above was written, Mr. White has had his 
fagot-wall removed, and glass placed at the back, at 
a sharp angle of 30 degrees. Under this are trained 
peaches and nectarines, which succeed those under the 
front glass. The effect is excellent ; and the trees, the 
late warm summer (1858), ripened their fruit well, 
although the slope is to the northeast. In cool seasons, 
it is to be feared, the flavor of the fruit will suffer. 

The following letter, from a very clever amateur 



118 APPENDIX. 

fruit cultivator, will, I think, be found interesting to 
those who wish to make the most of a small garden: — 

" To Mr. Rivers, 

" Deae Sm, — I have derived much pleasure from 
the cultivation of fruit trees in the diiferent modes in- 
troduced by you — as pyramids, bushes, and in pots, 
under glass ; and you will be glad to hear, as I am to 
tell you, that the pleasure has been greatly enlianced 
by success. Wishing to have a good many fruit trees, 
and my garden being a small one, I have resorted to 
many contrivances to make the most of my space ; and 
kno-sving that the subject is one interesting to you, I 
venture to give you an account of some of them. 

" About seven years ago, I put down on the east and 
west borders of one of my squares a row of stout and 
straight larch poles, eighteen inches in tlie ground, 
four feet above it, and three feet apart. These were 
sheeted, on the side next the v/alk, with half-inch 
boards, on the top of which was placed a rail two 
inches wide ; stays were fixed against eacli end and 
against the centre, to prevent shaking by the wind ; 
and all got two coats of paint. The entire cost of the 
structure, exclusive of the poles, which I happened 
previously to have, was sixpence for each running foot. 
Against these walls I planted, on the side next the 
walk, dwarf-trained pear trees on quince stocks, and 
some plmu trees. I then went to the other side of my 
wall, and planted there as many more trees — ^placing 
them intermediately between those at the opposite side, 
so that tlie roots of one should not interfere with tliose 
of another.- J. had thus, on the space usually occupied 



APPENDIX. 119 

by a single line of open espaliers, a double number of 
fruit trees, one half of them having an eastern and the 
other a western wall. The second year from planting 
I was rewarded by a nice crop : and although the trees 
were then young, the fruit, had I been disposed to sell 
it, would have realized more than the original cost of 
the walls : and this last year I have had against them 
as fine crops of Beurre d'Amanlis, Thompson's, Gan- 
sel's Bergamot (double grafted on the quince), "Wil- 
liams's Bon Chretien, Chaumontel, and other pears, as 
need be desired, and also fair crops of greengage, pur- 
ple gage, and Kirke's plums. 

" I have not adopted wooden walls along my north 
or south borders, because one side would be useless ; 
but instead of them I nailed cheap calico at the north 
side of some of my espalier rails which run east and 
west, thus giving to the trees next the walk a southern 
aspect. The calico is secured to the posts and to the 
rail at top by tape, in which numerous tacks are 
driven. When first put up, it got a good coat of oil 
and black paint, and, with the exception of a few small 
holes made by accident, and which can easily be re- 
paired, it is now, in its third year, strong as ever, tight 
^ a drum, and having the appearance and something 
of the sound of sheet-iron, I grew against those cot- 
ton walls this past year as fine crops of Josephine de 
Malines, Marechal de la Cour, Beurre d'Aremberg, 
and Marie Louise pears, as the most ardent horticultu- 
rist could desire. 

" There is another mode in which I have cultivated 
fruit trees ; but it is right to say that the idea, although 
I had not seen it put into practice elsewhere, was taken 
6* 



120 APPENDIX. 

by me from the ' Orchard and Fruit Garden,' by 
Mackintosh. I cut back to three or four buds some 
maiden pear trees grafted on the quince, and when 
they threw out three shoots I tied them down, so as to 
give to each a horizontal direction. Tlie following 
year I placed round them eight stakes, about eighteen 
inches from the stem, and equidistant from each other, 
and outside those stakes the branches were trained in 
a spiral form. I transferred some of those to the bor- 
ders of the walk leading to my orchard house. The 
stakes round which the branches are trained are 
painted white, and secured in their proper positions by 
a hoop of round iron fastened inside the top. The trees 
look well and bear welh A Passe Colmar managred 
in this way was loaded with fruit last year, and attract- 
ed much attention. I consider that this plan possesses 
many advantages — the trees may be kept near the 
ground, and thus have more heat ; the air circulates 
freely inside ; then the sun shines on every branch du- 
ring some portion of the day, and the fruit, however 
large, is not liable to be blown down. The method 
might be called, not inappropriately, after that ancient 
and useful instrument the corkscrew ; but, if you find 
the term too homely, let it be en tire-houcJwn. 

" With best wishes for your long life and health, 
both for your own sake and for the interests of horti- 
culture, on which you have already conferred so many 
benefits, 

" I remain, dear Sir, 

" Tours truly, 

"Joseph Meadows." 



APPENDIX. 



121 



THE GEOCND VINERY. 

A seven-feet length of ground vinery, the end at b open, to be joined to another 
seven-feet length with a closed end, or otherwise. 




a Aperture 4 fnches deep, for the egress of hot air, 

6 The open end, to be added to at pleasure. 

c Ground level. 

d Bricks. 

« Interstices between bricks for ventilation. 

The " Curate's Yinerj," described in the tenth edi- 
tion, was contrived by Dr. S. ISTewington, of Tice- 
hurst — " Sigma" — and consisted of a ridge of glass 
placed over a furrow lined with slates, so that the 
bunches of grapes were suspended in the furrow, and 
in warm seasons ripened well. One objection to the 
fuiTow was its liability to be filled with water in wet 
weather, in low situations and heavy soils. I there- 
fore sought to remedy this, and one day, about the 
end of June, 1860, I found myself looking into my 
original " Curate's Yinery," and admiring the vines 
then in blossom, although those within a few yards of 
it, growing in the open air, were scarcely in full leaf. 
I pictured to myself the bunches of grapes suspended 
from the vines in the warm, moist atmosphere of the 
trench lined with slates. My thoughts then reverted 
to my boyish grape-loving days, when, in an old vine 
yard planted by my grandfather, I always looked for 
some ripe grapes about the end of September ; and I 
vividly remembered that I always found the best and 



122 APPENDIX, 

ripest bunches with the largest berries lying on the 
ground, and if the season were dry and wann, they 
were free from dirt, and rfclicioiis (I think I always 
strongly accented the de), and so I gradually travelled 
in tliought from bunches of grapes lying on the 
ground to idem lying on slates. 

The idea was new, and I commenced at once to put 
it into practice by building a " Curate's Vinery " on a 
new plan. 

I therefore placed two rows of bricks endwise 
(leaving four inches between each brick for ven- 
tilation) on a nice level piece of sandy ground, 
and then paved between them with large slates 
("duchesses") placed crosswise. I am, however, 
inclined to think that tiles may be preferable to 
slates ; absorption of heat is greater and radiation 
slower. On the bricks I placed two of the ridges 
of glass, as given in the foregoing figure, each 
7 feet long, and thus formed my vinery, li feet in 
length. The vine lies in the centre of the vinery, and 
is pegged down through the spaces between the slates. 
One vine will in the course of two years fill a vinery 
of this length ; but, to reap the fruits of my project 
quickly, I planted two vines, one in the centre, the 
other at the northeast end ; for these structures 
should stand northeast and southwest. One of these 
vines, which had been growing in a pot in the oj)en 
air, was just beginning to show its fruit-buds — it was 
(juite the last of June — its fruit ripened early in Oc- 
tober, and were fully colored and good in spite of the 
cloudy, cold autumn. My black Hamburgh grapes in 
my ground vineries were fully ripe in 1862 by the 



APPEi^DIX. 123 

first week in October. I therefore feel well assured 
that grapes lying on a floor of slates, such as I have 
described, will ripen from two to three weeks earlier 
than in vineries of this descrij)tion with a furrow, and 
as early as grapes in a common cold vinery. Black 
Hamburghs and other kinds of grapes not requiring 
fire heat may thus be grown in any small garden at a 
trifling expense. I am, indeed, disposed to hope that 
the Frontignans, and nearly all but the Muscats, may 
be ripened by this method, so intense is the heat of 
the slated floor on a sunny day in July. 

Some persons may think that the heat would be 
scorching, and that the leaves and grapes would alike 
become frizzled ; but few gardeners know the extreme 
heat a bunch of grapes can bear. I remember a lady 
friend, who had resided some time at Smyrna, telling 
me that one afternoon at the end of summer, when 
the grapes were ripening, she was sitting in her draw- 
ing-room and admiring some large bunches of grapes 
hanging on a vine which was growing against a wall 
in the full sunshine. Knowing the danger of going 
into the open air without a parasol, she rushed out, 
cut a bunch of grapes, and returned to her seat in 
the shady room. The bunch of grapes was so hot 
that she was obliged to shift it from hand to hand. I 
observed in the hot weather we had in July, 1850, one 
or two branches of Muscat grapes, nearly touching 
the chimney of the stove in which a fire was kept up 
every morning, gradually turning into raisins. I felt 
some of them when the sun was shining on them ; they 
were not burning hot, but next to it. 

I allowed them to dry into raisins, and very fine 



124: APPENDIX. 

they were, but not better than the finest imported 
from Spain. 

With respect to the superior ripening power of 
elates or tiles placed on the surface of the earth, I was 
much interested in once hearing a travelled friend say 
that, when he was at Paros, he observed many vines 
trained up the marble rocks peculiar to the island ; 
and in all cases the grapes lying on the surface, which 
was almost a continuous mass of rock, were ripe, while 
those a few feet from it, on the same vine, some of the 
branches of which were trained up the wall-like 
rocks, were quite green. In telling me this, he said 
he was never more impressed with the ripening power 
of the earth's surface. 

I have, in giving the figure and description of the 
ground vinery, made it adapted for one vine, the 
width of it being 2 feet G inches only. If this width 
be increased to 3 feet 6 inches, tv/o vines can be trained 
under the same roof 14 inches apart, and thus at a 
trifling additional cost double produce can be obtained. 
I have very recently planted some peach trees in one 
of these slate-paved vineries, and feel assured that 
very early and very fine peaches can be grown in such 
places. I have managed my trees in tliis way — I 
took two pyramids full of blossom-buds, cut off the 
shoots on one side so that the stem would lie flat, and 
I then pegged it down with hooks made of stout iron 
wire, thrusting them into the soil between the inter- 
stices of the slates. 

Cultivators will think of red spider making his 
home in such (for him) a happy, hot place ; but he 
may be made so uncomfortable by keeping flowers of 



APPENDIX. 125 

sulphtir strewed over the slates till near the ripening 
season, that no inconvenience need be apprehended. 
It will be perceived that the ventilation is all lateral, 
and, on the same principle as that of m j orchard- 
houses, nothing can be more perfect. In the figure it 
will be seen I have left a small aperture under the 
apex of the roof for the escape of rarefied air. In 
very hot weather this may be useful, but in mj slate- 
floored ground vineries I have not done this, and jet 
the ventilation is perfect. I have not yet ascertained 
in what manner the heated air escapes. The venti- 
lating apertures are all on the surface of the soil, and 
at the same level ; but I suppose it stoops to get out, 
having no other mode of egress. 

DIMENSIONS OF GEOUND VINERIES. 

J^o. 1, for a single vine in eentre. 

"Width at base 30 inches. 

Slope of roof 20 inches. 

Depth in centre . . . .16 inches. 

27b. 2, for two vines 14 inches apart. 

Width at base 42 inches. 

Slope of roof 28 inches. 

Depth in centre . . . .20 inches. 

These dimensions need not be arbitrary, for ground 
vineries of larger dimensions may be made with every 
chance of success, and Hamburgh grapes grovvu in 
Bedfordshire instead of cucumbers; for no part of 
England can be more favorable to grape culture than 
the fertile, sandy districts of a portion of that county. 
"We have heard of forty acres of cucumbers being- 
grown for pickling, and one day we may hear of forty 



126 APPENDIX. 

acres of grapes in ground vineries in some favorable 
locality. To foj-m the vinery No. 1, p. 125, two seven- 
feet lengths are required ; these I find from expe- 
rience are better made of wood than iron, which is 
heavy and expensive ; they are now made three feet 
wide at base, and sold by Mr. J. Rivett, Stratford, 
Essex, at from 65^. to 70s. per dozen, unglazed and 
unpainted. Their size may also be increased to 3 feet 
6 inches, as in No. 2, but they must then be placed 
on a wall two bricks in height, leaving apertures, four 
or five inches wide and six inches deep, for ventila- 
tion ; this increase of ventilation is absolutely neces- 
sary with No. 2. The glass used should be 21 oz., as 
16 oz, is too slight. As the vines in ground ^aneries 
often put forth their young shoots early in May, and 
are apt to be injured by a severe May frost, it is good 
practice to keep some refuse hay strewed over the 
glass when there is any chance of frost in that month. 
In gardens where these glass ridge roofs are not 
wanted for vines or fruit tree culture, they will be 
found most useful. They may be placed on any warm 
border on bricks ; and early peas, French beans, and 
many other early vegetables, requiring protection from 
spring frosts, be grown under them with advantage. 
For the cultivation of early strawberries they are in- 
valuable, as they not only hasten the ripening period, 
but protect the fruit fi-om heavy summer showers, 
often so injurious to the crop, and also from birds. 
Strawberry plants, to be cultivated in ground vineries, 
should be planted early in autumn, in narrow beds of 
two or three rows, the plants close together in the 
rows, BO as to take full advantage of the glass-covered 



APPENDIX. 127 

space. The rows should be 9 inches apart ; the beds 
should be made every season on a fresh piece of rich 
soil ; and as much fruit as can possibly be grown in 
such a limited space must be the aim of the cultiva- 
tor. In all cases the ridges should be placed on 
bricks, with spaces between them. Yentilation is 
then secured ; and even cauliflower plants in winter 
will do well without the constant attention to " giving 
air," so necessary in the old garden frame culture. 
Lettuces, for early salads, succeed admirably in these 
structures; they should be planted in October. In 
gardens that are confined and very warm, I repeat, it 
may be necessary to have a small opening left at the 
top, at «, in the figure, just under the ridge, to let out 
the heated air, and two rows of bricks instead of one ; 
but my vineries stand in a very ex])osed place, and do 
not require it. I feel that I ought to tell my readers 
the perfect success of my ground vineries this season 
(1864). In four of them are growing four varieties, 
one in each vinery, viz., Trentham Black, Black 
Hamburgh, Buckland Sweetwater, and La Bruxelloise. 
On these four vines are 100 bunches ; their berries 
now (August 10) swelling rapidly. The only culture 
they have had has been taking off about half the 
number of bunches they produced, thinning the ber- 
ries and stopping the shoots. IS'o syringing, no water- 
ing has been required, and not a red spider or any 
other blight is to be seen. 

Any suburban garden 10 yards square, if in a sunny 
situation, may have one or two of these vineries ; the 
occupier may grow his own black Hamburgh grapes 
known by most Londoners as " Hothouse grapes." 



128 " APPENDIX' 

POSTSCRIPT. 

September 8, 1865. 

Sucli a season as the present has never been expe- 
rienced since the invention of ground vineries. A 
fine vine here of the Trentham Black grape occupies 
live seven-feet lengths, and is, of course, thirty-five 
feet long ; this is bearing fifty nice sized bunches of 
grapes, now fully ripe. Another vine, the Black 
Hamburgh, is also bearing a fine crop of sixty-three 
medium-sized bunches, the grapes full-sized, finely 
colored, and fast approaching to ripeness. There 
seems to be a most agreeable and animating prospect 
of these neat-looking and most useful structures occu- 
pying thousands of small gardens, and giving the 
luxury of fine ripe grapes to many who are capable 
of appreciating and enjoying them. 

The first idea of one vine only occupying two 
seven-feet lengths is put to rest, for in a good soil the 
vines are so vigorous that, although they may be 
shortened so as to be confined to fourteen feet, there 
is no reason why one vine should not extend to one 
hundred feet, adding annually one or two lengths as 
required. I am inclined to, hope that I shall live to 
see my favorite Trentham Black reach that length. 



September 21, 1865. 

I find to-day that the grapes on bunches hanging 
from the upright spurs of my Black Hamburgh vine, 
just under the apex of the roof of one of my ground 
\dneries, and a trifle over one foot from the ground — 



APPENDIX. 129 

in short, just where they would hang if susi)ended 
from a wire in the centre — are nearly or quite ripe ; 
the bunches on the slates are not quite in so forward 
a state of ripeness, but the ripest of all are the bunches 
hanging so that their tips touch the slates. This, I 
hope, has settled the question, so that we may now 
have our vines trained to wires in ground vineries, 
and calculate that, if the bunches are suspended so 
as to touch or partially lie on the slates, thus benelit- 
ing by their radiation of heat, grapes will ripen well. 



131 



Iiq-DEX. 



PAGE 

A.pple — American blight, cure for 65 

Burr knot stock 61 

Bushes on Paradise stock 67 

Bushes for a market garden 69 

Dormant buds, to notch 64 

Double lateral cordon 77 

Doucin stock 60 

In pots 62. 66 

Pomme de Paradis 62 

Pyramid, summer pinching of ... . 66 

Pyramidal, on crab 80 

Root-priming of 63 

Selection of sorts 67. 68 

Summer pinching of bushes 68 

Single lateral cordon 75 

To keep hares from .... (note) 69 

Yertical Cordon 79 

Apricot — Pyramidal 95 

Cherry — As bushes 85 

Biennial removal of 92 

Cure for Aphis (note) 89 

Double-grafting of 91 

On the common stock 91 

On the Mahaleb stock 85 

Pruning of 85 

Pyramidal 87 

Selection of sorts 89. 94 

Summer pinching of 87 

Vertical cordons 89 

Compact pyramids H 



132 INDEX. 

PAOB 

Currant — Pyramidal 95 

Double-grafting of fruit trees 102 

Dwarf walls, proper distance for trees 37 

Fig, as half-standards and bushes 97 1 

,| Filbert, as standards 96 

Fruit trees — Advantages of root-pruning of . . . 48 

Biennial removal of 98 

Distances to plant 112 

Glass fruit ridge 78 

Ground vinery 121 

Labels for fruit trees (note) 15 

Market garden bush pear trees 54 

apple trees 69 

Medlar — Pyramidal 96 

Moss on trees, to destroy (note) 101 

Old fruit trees, root-pruning of 47 

Peach border, how to prepare 106 

compost for 99 

on dwarf walls 38 

trellis 115 

Pear — As a hedge 43 

As bushes on the quince stock .... 17 

Biennial root-pruning of wall trees .... 40 

Budding with fruit buds . . . (note) 6 

Bushes for a market garden 54 

Corkscrew, training of . , . .■ . . 120 

Dormant buds, to notch 6 

Double-grafted (note) 15. 103 

Espaliers on quince stocks 40 

For dwarf walls 35 

Gathering the fruit 56 

Keeping fruit in a greenhouse. .... 59 

Mature pyramid 7 

Number of fruit on 2 

Ornamental pyramids of 19 

Planting 50 

Proper time to plant 2 

Protecting wall trees 108 

Protectors for 20 

Pruning 10 



INDEX. 133 

PAGB 

Pear — Pyramid on the pear slock 44 

Quenouille 3 

Root-pruning of, on the pear stock .... 44 

Root-pruning on quince 12 

Semi-pyramids for walls 23 

Shortening leading shoots 4. 6. 9 

Sorts for bushes 20 

pyramids 15 

upright cordons 29 

Summer pinching 8 

top-dressing 53 

Thinning blossom buds 2 

To store for winter 58 

Training en fuseau 42 

Under glass 32 

Upright cordon training 23 

Upright cordons for trellises 31 

walls 24 

Wooden walls for 118 

Young pyramid 4 

Plum — As bushes 84 

On sloe 82 

Pyramidal 81 

Selection of sorts 84 

Pyramidal fruit trees, summer pinching of . . . . 11 

alternate root-pruning of . . (note) 12 

labels for ... . (note) 15 

planting (note) 50 

Standard orchard trees 109 

Strawberries iu ground vinery 126 



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